SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CN) — On Tuesday, California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced his support of Assembly Bill 1893, which if passed will facilitate the building of houses in cities and counties that fail to comply with state housing laws.
Under the state’s Housing Accountability Act, failure to adopt a compliant local housing plan triggers a “builder’s remedy,” a provision dating to 1990 that limits the ability of local governments to restrict the construction of new affordable and mixed-income developments. The remedy allows developers to bypass local building rules and receive automatic approval for dense housing developments in jurisdictions that are out of compliance with state housing law.
If enacted, AB 1893 will modernize the builder’s remedy and make it more clear when the remedy applies and when housing projects must be approved, as well as expediting application processing times. AB 1893 also updates the original law to reduce the amount of affordable housing required for builder’s remedy projects — from 20% to 10% — and exempts developments with 10 or fewer units from the affordable housing requirement.
By proposing these changes, Bonta and the bill's author, Assemblymember Buffy Wicks of Oakland, hope many more builder's remedy projects will be financially feasible, including small-scale “missing middle” projects. “Missing middle” projects are relatively small multifamily development projects, like duplexes and townhomes, that are more affordable than similarly located single-family homes and serve the needs of more diverse households
AB 1893 will also clarify where projects can be located and establishes regulations for how big the projects can be. It will designate sites appropriate for residential development, including housing, retail, and office space, and provide clearer standards for development, allowing projects to more than double or even triple the density of housing allowed by a jurisdiction.
“The builder’s remedy is meant to hold accountable jurisdictions that do not adopt a compliant housing element on time, because every Californian suffers when cities and counties fail to plan for the future. It has been over 30 years since the builder's remedy was enacted and it's remained in effect, largely unchanged, since then,” Bonta wrote in a statement. “With AB 1893, we are finally updating this important provision to be clearer for local governments, planners, developers, and courts, while ensuring that even cities without up-to-date housing plans continue to develop desperately needed housing that is affordable to middle-class and lower-income Californians.”
Wicks, who appeared next to Bonta at a press conference in Sacramento announcing the bill, said that more than 200 jurisdictions in California are not in compliance with state housing law. The Democrat said her bill’s message is clear; get in compliance and build more homes or the state will do it for you.
Wicks said the bill will never apply in cities or jurisdictions with compliant housing elements, and that it is intended to motivate cities to get in compliance with California housing law.
“This bill is not about taking away local control, it’s about creating consequences for ignoring the law,” Wicks said.
The changes will also make it harder for developers to have their developments challenged in court.
"We believe in using all the tools in our toolbox to build affordable housing, and this legislation calls on local governments to join us in these efforts. Let’s not spend time litigating, let’s spend our time building affordable housing together,” said Maureen Sedonaen, board chair of Habitat for Humanity California, and CEO of Habitat for Humanity Greater San Francisco.
Adam Briones, CEO of California Community Builders, said at the press conference that the bill will help smaller developers and benefit communities of color, who suffer disproportionately from high housing costs in the Golden State.
Briones said that the middle class is shrinking in California because homeownership is a way to build intergenerational wealth, and that many families leave the state because they cannot afford homes.
“We’re losing the families that throughout our state’s history have made up an important and aspirational backbone of our society,” he said.
At the end of the press conference, Wicks hailed the bill as a win-win measure.
“The consequence for cities that choose not to build more housing is more housing, which is from my perspective, a great consequence,” she said.
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