AB906 - Planning and zoning: housing elements: affirmatively furthering fair housing.

Amended IN Senate June 23, 2025 Amended IN Assembly April 21, 2025 CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION Assembly Bill No. 906 Introduced by Assembly Member Mark González February 19, 2025 An act to amend Sections 65583, 65583.1, and 65583.2 of, and to add Section 65583.01 to, the Government Code, relating to land use. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 906, as amended, Mark González. Planning and zoning: housing elements: affirmatively furthering fair housing. (1) The Planning and Zoning Law requires a city or county to adopt a general plan for land use development that includes, among other things, a housing element. Existing law requires the housing element to include, among other things, an inventory of land suitable and available for residential development, including specified sites, an analysis of the relationship of zoning and public facilities and services to these sites (first analysis), and an analysis of the relationship of the sites identified in the land inventory to the jurisdiction’s duty to affirmatively further fair housing (2nd analysis). This bill would remove the requirement on cities and counties to include the 2nd analysis in their housing elements. (2) Existing law requires a housing element to include a program that sets forth a schedule of actions during the planning period, each with a timeline for implementation such that there will be beneficial impacts of the programs within the planning period, that the local government is undertaking or intends to undertake to implement the policies and achieve the goals and objectives of the housing element through specified actions. Existing law requires this program to, among other things, identify actions that will be taken to make sites available, as provided, to accommodate that portion of the city’s or county’s share of the regional housing need for all income levels that could not be accommodated on sites identified in the inventory of sites without rezoning, and to comply with the certain zoning and rezoning requirements. If the inventory of sites does not identify adequate sites to accommodate the need for groups of all household income levels, as provided, existing law requires that the local government rezone those sites within specified time periods and requires the local government housing element program to identify sites that can be developed for housing within the planning period, as specified. Existing law also requires this program to affirmatively further fair housing and include an assessment that consists of specified components, including an analysis of available federal, state, and local data and knowledge to identify integration and segregation patterns and trends, racially or ethnically concentrated areas of poverty and affluence, disparities in access to opportunity, and disproportionate housing needs, including displacement risk. Under the above-described program, existing law requires the Department of Housing and Community Development to develop a standardized reporting format for certain programs and actions taken, and requires the standardized reporting format to enable the reporting of all of the assessment components and certain fields, including timelines for implementation. This bill would additionally require the above-described program to identify actions that will be taken to make sites available to ensure that the distribution of sites across the jurisdiction affirmatively furthers fair housing. The bill would require those sites, after any required rezoning and among other things, to be distributed throughout the jurisdiction in a manner that affirmatively furthers fair housing, as specified. The bill would additionally require the local government to rezone the sites within specified time periods, as described above, and identify sites that can be developed for housing within the planning period, as described above, if the inventory of sites does not affirmatively further fair housing, as specified. For those additionally identified sites, the bill would require the jurisdiction to demonstrate that those sites will affirmatively further fair housing, as provided. By imposing additional duties on local entities, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would revise and recast the requirement that the program affirmatively further fair housing. The bill would require each city or county, at least one year prior to the adoption deadline for the next revision of the housing element, to complete and make publicly available an assessment that program to include an assessment of fair housing that includes, among other things, an analysis of available federal, state, and local data and knowledge to identify and examine certain patterns, trends, areas, disparities, and needs, as specified. The bill would also require each city or county to make the draft assessment publicly available and solicit public comments on the assessment. for a period of at least 90 days. The bill would require the city or county to include, among other things, in its first draft revision of the housing element, the assessment, including any revisions made in response to the public comments, and specified strategies and actions to implement the jurisdiction’s fair housing priorities and goals. By imposing additional duties on local entities, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would instead require the department to develop a standardized format for describing those strategies and actions to be taken, and would require the standardized reporting format to address all of the assessment components and, in addition to the above-described certain fields, a field for which fair housing priority the program is intended to address, the intended impacts, and how the strategies and actions will result in those impacts. (3) Existing law authorizes the Department of Housing and Community Development, in evaluating a proposed or adopted housing element for substantial compliance, to allow a city or county to identify adequate sites by a variety of methods, including, among others, redesignation of property to a more intense land use category. Existing law also authorizes the department to allow a city or county to identify sites for accessory dwelling units based on the number of accessory dwelling units developed in the prior housing element planning period whether or not the units are permitted by right, the need for these units in the community, the resources or incentives available for their development, and any other relevant factors, as determined by the department. This bill would revise the department’s authorization to allow a city or county to identify sites for accessory dwelling units in each income category based on the number of accessory dwelling units developed in the prior housing element planning period in that income category whether or not the units are permitted by right, the need for these units in the community, the resources or incentives available for their development, and any other relevant factors, as determined by the department. The bill would also require the jurisdiction to provide proof of a recorded deed restriction requiring the continued affordability of the unit, as specified, for accessory dwelling units developed in the prior housing element period to count towards determining the number of sites for accessory dwelling units a jurisdiction can include in the lower income category. (4) Existing law requires a city’s or county’s inventory of land suitable for residential development to be used to identify sites throughout the community, consistent with certain fair housing requirements, that can be developed for housing within the planning period, and that are sufficient to provide for the jurisdiction’s share of the regional housing need for all income levels. This bill would instead require that a city’s or county’s inventory of land suitable for residential development be used to identify sites that can be developed for housing within the planning period, that are sufficient to provide for the jurisdiction’s share of the regional housing need for all income levels, and that are distributed throughout the community in a manner that compliance with the requirement that the distribution affirmatively furthers fair housing. housing, as specified. By imposing additional duties on local entities, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (5) Existing law requires a city or county to determine whether each site in its inventory of suitable land, as described above, can accommodate the development of some portion of its share of the regional housing need by income level during the planning period. Existing law also requires the inventory to, among other things, specify for each site the number of units that can realistically be accommodated on that site. This bill would additionally require those cities and counties to ensure that the sites identified as described above are to be distributed throughout the jurisdiction in a manner that affirmatively furthers fair housing by reducing allowing for a reduction in residential segregation, based on a specified determination procedure. By imposing additional duties on local entities, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would require the department, by no later than April 1, 2027, to develop and publish an online tool to serve as the method for determining whether each city’s or county’s identification of sites adequate to accommodate its share of the regional housing need at all income levels meets the distribution requirement described above. The bill would authorize the department to grant an adjustment to the distribution requirement described above if underlying data for the jurisdiction renders the tool unreliable. The bill would require the department to include in its materials explaining the online tool a procedure for applying for an adjustment and the factors that the department will consider in determining whether or not to grant an adjustment. The bill would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. Digest Key Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: YES Bill Text The people of the State of California do enact as follows: SECTION 1. Section 65583 of the Government Code is amended to read: 65583. The housing element shall consist of an identification and analysis of existing and projected housing needs and a statement of goals, policies, quantified objectives, financial resources, and scheduled programs for the preservation, improvement, and development of housing. The housing element shall identify adequate sites for housing, including rental housing, factory-built housing, mobilehomes, and emergency shelters, and shall make adequate provision for the existing and projected needs of all economic segments of the community. The housing element shall contain all of the following: (a) An assessment of housing needs and an inventory of resources and constraints that are relevant to the meeting of these needs. The assessment and inventory shall include all of the following: (1) An analysis of population and employment trends and documentation of projections and a quantification of the locality’s existing and projected housing needs for all income levels. These existing and projected needs shall include the locality’s share of the regional housing need in accordance with Section 65584. (2) An analysis and documentation of household characteristics, including level of payment compared to ability to pay, housing characteristics, including overcrowding, and housing stock condition. (3) An inventory of land suitable and available for residential development, including vacant sites and sites having realistic and demonstrated potential for redevelopment during the planning period to meet the locality’s housing need for a designated income level, and an analysis of the relationship of zoning and public facilities and services to these sites. (4) (A) The identification of one or more zoning designations that allow residential uses, including mixed uses, where emergency shelters are allowed as a permitted use without a conditional use or other discretionary permit and that are suitable for residential uses. The identified zoning designations shall include sufficient sites meeting the requirements of subparagraph (H) with sufficient capacity, as described in subparagraph (I), to accommodate the need for emergency shelter identified in paragraph (7), except that each local government shall identify a zoning designation or designations that can accommodate at least one year-round emergency shelter. If the local government cannot identify a zoning designation or designations with sufficient capacity, the local government shall include a program to amend its zoning ordinance to meet the requirements of this paragraph within one year of the adoption of the housing element. The local government may identify additional zoning designations where emergency shelters are permitted with a conditional use permit. The local government shall also demonstrate that existing or proposed permit processing, development, and management standards that apply to emergency shelters are objective and encourage and facilitate the development of, or conversion to, emergency shelters. (B) Emergency shelters shall only be subject to the following written, objective standards: (i) The maximum number of beds or persons permitted to be served nightly by the facility. (ii) Sufficient parking to accommodate all staff working in the emergency shelter, provided that the standards do not require more parking for emergency shelters than other residential or commercial uses within the same zone. (iii) The size and location of exterior and interior onsite waiting and client intake areas. (iv) The provision of onsite management. (v) The proximity to other emergency shelters, provided that emergency shelters are not required to be more than 300 feet apart. (vi) The length of stay. (vii) Lighting. (viii) Security during hours that the emergency shelter is in operation. (C) For purposes of this paragraph, “emergency shelter” shall include other interim interventions, including, but not limited to, a navigation center, bridge housing, and respite or recuperative care. (D) The permit processing, development, and management standards applied under this paragraph shall not be deemed to be discretionary acts within the meaning of the California Environmental Qua [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]