SB457 - Housing element compliance: committed assistance: in-kind services: realistic capacity formula.

Amended IN Assembly August 20, 2026 Amended IN Assembly August 13, 2026 Amended IN Assembly June 11, 2026 Amended IN Assembly May 20, 2026 Amended IN Senate January 08, 2026 Amended IN Senate January 05, 2026 Amended IN Senate April 21, 2025 Amended IN Senate March 24, 2025 CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION Senate Bill No. 457 Introduced by Senator Becker 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 SB 457, as amended, Becker. Housing element compliance: committed assistance: in-kind services: realistic capacity formula. The Planning and Zoning Law requires a city or county to adopt a comprehensive, long-term general plan that includes various mandatory elements, including a housing element. Existing law requires the housing element to include, among other things, an inventory of land suitable and available for residential development, an analysis of the relationship of zoning and public facilities and services to these sites, and an analysis of the relationship of the sites identified in the land inventory to the jurisdiction’s duty to affirmatively further fair housing. Existing law requires a city or county, based on that inventory of land, to determine whether each site in the inventory can accommodate the development of some portion of its share of the regional housing need by income level during the planning period, as provided. Existing law requires the inventory of land to include, among other things, a description of the existing use of the property for nonvacant sites. For the nonvacant sites, existing law requires the city or county to specify the additional development potential for each site within the planning period. Existing law requires a city or county to rezone sites according to a specified program if the inventory of sites suitable and available for residential development does not identify adequate sites to accommodate the need for groups of all household income levels. This bill would require, on or before January July 1, 2028, the Department of Housing and Community Development to promulgate or approve one or more formulas and associated user interfaces or other tools that allow for the determination of specified information, including, among other things, the realistic capacity of housing element inventory sites, as specified. The bill would authorize the above-described analysis and determinations by a city or county related to sites in the inventory of land suitable and available for residential development to rely on the formula promulgated or approved by the department. The bill would authorize the department to hire economists and data scientists for the purpose of promulgating the formulas and associated user interfaces or other tools. This bill would require the inventory of land suitable and available for residential development to specify the number of units allowed to be built on each site at the time of the housing element’s adoption, and the number that will be allowed after rezoning, as specified, to accommodate the city’s or county’s share of regional housing need. This bill would exempt the use by a city or county of any adopted formula, associated user interface, or tool promulgated or approved by the department for these purposes from judicial review, except as specified. Existing law also requires that the housing element, among other things, sets forth a schedule of actions during the planning period that the local government is undertaking or intends to undertake to implement the policies and achieve the goals of the housing element, as provided. Existing law authorizes the Department of Housing and Community Development to allow a city or county to substitute the provision of units pursuant to this schedule of actions if the community includes in its housing element a program committing the local government to provide specified units that will be made available through the provision of committed assistance to lower income households at affordable housing costs or rents, as defined. Existing law requires a unit to meet specified requirements to qualify for inclusion in the program. Existing law defines “committed assistance” for these purposes to mean that the city or county enters into a legally enforceable agreement during a specified time period that obligates sufficient available funds or other in-kind services to provide the assistance necessary to make the identified units affordable and that requires that the units be made available for occupancy within 2 years of the execution of the agreement. This bill would define “in-kind services” for these purposes. Digest Key Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NO Bill Text The people of the State of California do enact as follows: SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (a) Ensuring that each city and county accommodates its fair share of regionally needed housing is a matter of supreme statewide importance. (b) The process for writing, reviewing, and implementing housing elements has become very burdensome is time consuming and costly for local and state officials due to an accumulation of detailed statutory requirements and demanding judicial decisions. (c) Current law presupposes that local and state officials can figure out which sites are likely to be developed during the planning period, yet local governments do not own most developable sites and public officials are often unable to acquire credible information about each site owner’s intentions. Moreover, site owners and their intentions may change over the eight-year planning period. (d) Without knowing which sites will be developed during the planning period, it is possible to statistically estimate the average probability of development of sites of a defined class using historical data on site characteristics, regulations, and prices. Several cities, including the Cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco, commissioned statistical models as guides for their sixth cycle housing elements. (e) It is the Legislature’s intent to simplify the writing and review of seventh housing elements by authorizing the Department of Housing and Community Development to issue safe harbor formulas and associated user interfaces or other tools, for assessing the capacity of sites under the regulatory status quo and under local governments’ rezoning and constraint removal programs. These formulas and associated user interfaces or tools may be developed by the department or by third-party researchers with relevant economic and statistical expertise. (f) It is the Legislature’s intent that if a local government elects to use a formula approved by the Department of Housing and Community Development to estimate site capacity and properly applies it, the local government will be assured that it will be found compliant with the corresponding statutory requirements. (g) It is the intent of the Legislature that nothing in this act be construed to authorize or impose a new requirement that sites be subject to a local ordinance requiring or providing bonuses for deed-restricted affordable housing in order for the site to count toward a city’s or county’s regional housing need allocation (RNHA) below the “above moderate income” level. SEC. 2. 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 those 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) (A) 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, and an analysis of the relationship of the sites identified in the land inventory to the jurisdiction’s duty to affirmatively further fair housing. (B) (i) The analysis described in subparagraph (A) may rely on a formula promulgated or approved by the department pursuant to Section 65583.01 for purposes of estimating the realistic development capacity of sites in the inventory. (ii) Use of the formula described in clause (i) shall not be a substitute for the analysis of the relationship of the sites identified in the land inventory to the jurisdiction’s duty to affirmatively further fair housing. (C) The inventory shall specify the number of units allowed to be built on each site at the time of the housing element’s adoption, and the number that will be allowed after rezoning, pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (c), to accommodate the city’s or county’s share of regional housing need. (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, and all services provided onsite, including the addition or expansion of services that are consistent with any written, objective standards pursuant to subparagraph (B). (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 Quality Act (Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code). (E) If a local government has adopted written, objective standards pursuant to subparagraph (B), the local government shall include an analysis of the standards in the analysis of constraints pursuant to paragraph (5). (F) A local government that can demonstrate, to the satisfaction of the department, the existence of one or more emergency shelters either within its jurisdiction or pursuant to a multijurisdictional agreement that can accommodate that jurisdiction’s need and the needs of the other jurisdictions that are a part of the agreement for emergency shelter identified in paragraph (7) may comply with the zoning requirements of subparagraph (A) by identifying a zoning designation where new emergency shelters are allowed with a conditional use permit. (G) A local government with an existing ordinance or ordinances that comply with this paragraph shall not be required to take additional action to identify zoning designations for emergency shelters. The housing element must only describe how existing ordinances, policies, and standards are consistent with the requirements of this paragraph. (H) The zoning designation or designations where emergency shelters are allowed, as described in subparagraph (A), shall include sites that meet at least one of the following standards: (i) Vacant sites zoned for residential use. (ii) Vacant sites zoned for nonresidential use that allow residential development, if the local government can demonstrate how the sites with this zoning designation that are being used to satisfy the requirements of paragraph (1) are located near amenities and services that serve people experiencing homelessness, which may include health care, transportation, retail, employment, and social services, or that the local government will provide free transportation to services or offer services onsite. (iii) Nonvacant sites zoned for residential use or for nonresidential use that allow residential development that are suitable for use as a shelter in the current planning period, or which can be redeveloped for use as a shelter in the current planning period. A nonvacant site with an existing use shall be presumed to impede emergenc [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]