Bill Text: CA AB309 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: The Social Housing Act.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 14-0)
Status: (Vetoed) 2024-01-30 - Consideration of Governor's veto stricken from file. [AB309 Detail]
Download: California-2023-AB309-Amended.html
Amended
IN
Assembly
April 03, 2023 |
Introduced by Assembly Members Lee, Wendy Carrillo, and Kalra (Coauthors: Assembly Members Bennett, Haney, Jackson, McCarty, Ting, and Ward) (Coauthors: Senators Allen, Menjivar, and Wiener) |
January 26, 2023 |
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
The Zenovich-Moscone-Chacon Housing and Home Finance Act establishes the Department of Housing and Community Development and the California Housing Finance Agency and sets forth various programs administered by those entities intended to, among other things, provide a comprehensive and balanced approach to the solution of housing problems of the people of this state. The act sets forth various definitions that govern its construction.
This bill would define “social housing” for purposes of the Zenovich-Moscone-Chacon Housing and Home Finance Act. The bill would make findings and declarations relating to social housing and would state the intent of the Legislature to subsequently further the Social Housing Act to address the shortage of affordable homes by developing housing for people of all income levels, prioritizing low-income households.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee:Bill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:SEC. 2.
Title 6.91 (commencing with Section 64900) is added to the Government Code, to read:TITLE 6.91. THE SOCIAL HOUSING ACT
PART 1. General Provisions
CHAPTER 1. Title
64900.
This title shall be known, and may be cited, as the Social Housing Act.CHAPTER 2. Definitions
64901.
Unless the context demands otherwise, the definitions provided by this chapter shall apply to this title.64902.
“California Housing Authority,” “CHA,” or “authority” means the independent state entity created under this title for the purpose of developing social housing for all California residents.64903.
“Social housing” means housing with the following characteristics:64904.
“Prevailing wage rates” means the general prevailing rate of per diem wages for the craft, classification, or type of work within the locality and in the nearest labor market area, as determined by the Director of Industrial Relations pursuant to Sections 1773 and 1773.9 of the Labor Code, and the applicable prevailing apprentice wage rate.64905.
“Community workforce agreement” means a project labor agreement as described in Section 2500 of the Public Contract Code that includes provisions to provide opportunities for local and disadvantaged workers and contractors.64906.
“Revenue neutrality” means a system in which all monetary expenditures that result from the development and operation of social housing owned by the authority are returned to the authority through rents, payments on leasehold mortgages, or other subsidies, to further the maintenance and development of more social housing units.64907.
“Rent and mortgage cross-subsidization” means a system in which the below-cost rents and leasehold mortgages of certain units are balanced by above-cost payments on other units within the same multiunit property so as to ensure the property’s overall revenue meets development and operational costs.64908.
“Cost rent” means a system in which the rent of a dwelling is calculated on the cost of providing for and maintaining the dwelling, only allowing for limited or no proceeds.64909.
“Limited equity arrangement” means an ownership model in which residents are extended a long-term lease of a unit, take out a subsidized leasehold mortgage on the property from the authority, make monthly mortgage payments, and commit to resell at a price determined by a formula designed to balance ongoing affordability and resident wealth generation.64910.
“Regional housing needs assessment” or “RHNA” means a representation of housing needs for all income levels in a jurisdiction pursuant to Article 10.6 (commencing with Section 65580) of Chapter 3 of Division 1 of Title 7.64911.
“Area median income” means the median family income in a metropolitan or nonmetropolitan area, as determined by the Department of Housing and Community Development.64912.
“Extremely low income” means income that does not exceed the qualifying limits for extremely low income families, as described in Section 50106 of the Health and Safety Code.64913.
“Very low income” means income that does not exceed the qualifying limits for very low income families, as described in Section 50105 of the Health and Safety Code.64914.
“Low income” means income for households that does not exceed the qualifying limits for lower income families, as described in Section 50079.5 of the Health and Safety Code.64915.
“Moderate income” means income for households of low or moderate income whose income exceeds the income limit for lower income households, as described in Section 50093 of the Health and Safety Code.64916.
“Above moderate income” means income for households that exceeds the moderate-income level, as described in Section 50093 of the Health and Safety Code.64917.
“Underutilized parcel” means a parcel of property upon which is built a structure that contains fewer units than the maximum number of units permissible under local zoning regulations.64918.
“Multifamily property” means a collection of units featuring extremely low income, very low income, low-income, moderate-income, and above-moderate income units. A multifamily property may be a single building, multiple buildings on the same or adjacent parcels, or multiple buildings across several blocks within a single jurisdiction, or as may be defined by the authority.64919.
“Board” means the California Housing Authority Board.PART 2. California Housing Authority
CHAPTER 1. Creation, Powers, and Duties
Article 1. Creation
64920.
(a) The California Housing Authority is hereby created. The authority shall be governed by the California Housing Authority Board.Article 2. Powers
64921.
The authority shall have the following general powers:Article 3. Duties
64922.
(a) The authority shall implement and advise on the social housing program, as prescribed by Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 64933), and is hereby granted all powers necessary for this purpose.64923.
(a) The authority shall prepare, publish, adopt, and submit to the Governor and the Legislature an annual business plan. At least 60 days prior to the publication of the plan, the authority shall publish a draft business plan for public review and comment. The draft plan shall also be submitted to the Governor and the Legislature.CHAPTER 2. California Housing Authority Governance
Article 1. Formation and Structure of Governing Board
64924.
(a) The board shall be composed of the following:64925.
All board decisions shall be approved by majority vote.64926.
The board shall select a board chair, who may hold special powers as determined by members of the board.64927.
The board is a state body for purposes of the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act (Article 9 (commencing with Section 11120) of Chapter 1 of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2).Article 2. Board Powers and Duties
64928.
The duties of the board include, but are not limited to, the following:64929.
The executive officer of the board shall have the following powers and duties:Article 3. Resident Governance Councils
64930.
Each multifamily social housing development owned by the authority shall form a governance council, which shall include residents in both rental and ownership model properties. The governance council shall be made up of no more than 10 percent of the overall population of the multifamily development. The authority shall establish appropriate size limitations for governance councils based on the size of the developments that they represent.64931.
An authority multifamily social housing development governance council shall have the following powers and responsibilities:64932.
A multifamily social housing development governance council and the board may consult with outside parties with appropriate experience for the purpose of establishing managerial policies and practices that align with the requirements of affordable housing and the need to provide suitable tenant protections.CHAPTER 3. Social Housing Program
Article 1. Program Design
64933.
(a) In all its operations, the authority shall seek to achieve revenue neutrality over the long term. The authority shall seek to recuperate the cost of development and operations over the life of its properties through the mechanisms that maximize the number of Californians who can be housed without experiencing rent burden, such as rent cross-subsidization or cost rent.64934.
The authority shall make an annual determination of the required amount of social housing units to be produced in the following manner:64935.
(a) In creating social housing, the authority shall employ two different leasing models, the rental model and the ownership model, consistent with the requirements of this title.64936.
Applicants to be residents and continuing residents shall meet the following eligibility requirements, as may be applicable to them:64937.
(a) Subject to the requirements of subdivision (b), the authority shall use a lottery to select social housing residents from all qualifying applicants. The lottery shall be structured by income categories and shall provide separate selection results for each category.Article 2. Production of Housing
64938.
(a) The authority is authorized to contract with qualified entities, in accordance with the authority’s plan to meet its goals, to conduct ground-up construction and rehabilitation of existing structures.64939.
(a) The authority shall accept a local jurisdiction’s preference for a project parcel if all of the following conditions are met:64940.
With regard to the participation of labor in the production and rehabilitation of housing, the following shall apply:Article 3. Acquisition
64941.
The authority may acquire, reacquire, or contract to acquire or reacquire by grant or purchase real, personal, or mixed property or any interest therein and own, hold, clear, improve, rehabilitate, sell, assign, exchange, transfer, or otherwise dispose of or encumber the same.64942.
The authority shall prioritize acquiring or reacquiring property with the following characteristics:CHAPTER 4. Funding
64943.
The activities of the authority shall be conducted with a goal to cover its costs over the long term in accordance with the principle of revenue neutrality.64944.
The Social Housing Revolving Loan Fund is hereby established within the State Treasury to be used, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to provide zero-interest loans for the purpose of constructing housing to accommodate a mix of household incomes.64945.
(a) It is the intent of the Legislature to enact subsequent legislation to provide financing for the activities of the authority through the issuance of general obligation bonds.64946.
The authority may, upon appropriation by the Legislature, utilize funds from other legislation, cities and counties, or other sources, in order to build more low-, very low, and extremely low income housing.“Social housing” means any housing with all of the following characteristics:
(a)The housing units are owned by a public entity or a local housing authority.
(b)If a housing unit is in a social housing development, the development contains housing units that accommodate a mix of household income ranges, including extremely low income, very low income, low income, moderate income, and above-moderate income.
(c)Residents of housing units are afforded, at a minimum, all protections granted to tenants with tenancies in private property under Section 1946.2
of the Civil Code, including protection against termination without just cause or for any discriminatory, retaliatory, or other arbitrary reason, and shall be afforded due process prior to being subject to eviction procedures, in addition to other protections provided by this title.
(d)Residents of the housing units have the right to participate directly and meaningfully in decisionmaking affecting the operation and management of their housing units.
(e)The housing units shall be protected for the duration of their useful life from being sold or transferred to a private for-profit entity or a public-private partnership.
It is the intent of the Legislature to subsequently amend this measure to further the Social Housing Act to address the shortage of affordable homes by developing housing for people of all income levels, prioritizing low-income households.