In addition to the ongoing transportation funding issue—for which
special session bills are still alive—and the Governor’s
“by-right” housing proposal, CSAC’s Housing, Land Use and
Transportation policy staff will continue to engage on a variety
of bills in the final month of regular session.
Second Units
CSAC is seeking amendments to narrow the scope of two bills
related to permitting residential second units (accessory
dwelling units). SB 1069 (Wieckowski) includes problematic timeframes
for issuing permits and overly broad prohibitions on local
parking requirements, while AB 2299 (Bloom) would currently require all agencies
to adopt or modify their second unit ordinances (current law
allows the applications to be approved under standards in state
law without a local ordinance). On the other hand, CSAC continues
to support AB 2406 (Thurmond), which creates a voluntary
statutory framework for approving “junior second units” within
existing homes.
Affordable Housing Incentives
On the affordable housing front, CSAC removed its opposition to
AB 2501 (Bloom) after negotiating amendments. The bill
previously would have imposed a process that was unfairly
permissive to developers of projects with affordable housing
seeking local agency concessions under the density bonus law.
CSAC has expressed concerns with AB 1934 (Santiago), which would create a new program
similar to density bonus, whereby local agencies would have to
offer mutually-agreeable incentives or concessions for commercial
developers that include affordable housing in a mixed use project
or financially support an affordable housing development
off-site. We are likely to take a formal position on the latter
bill prior to legislative action in August.
Housing Development Subsidies
Finally, on the issue of affordable housing funding, CSAC
continues to support AB 2817 (Chiu), which would increase affordable
housing tax credits and the CSAC Executive Committee will
consider a position on
SB 879 (see page 149), Senator Beall’s proposal to
authorize the issuance of $3 billion in affordable housing bonds.
While CSAC supports additional state investment in affordable
housing, we understand that the Governor will likely continue to
tie any new general fund support, including the potential
expansion of tax credits, to legislative approval of his
“by-right” housing proposal.
