Policy Advocacy and Endorsement

This bill creates a stackable moderate income density bonus. The provisions of this bill are based on a successful San Diego program that incentivizes moderate-income housing production providing certain other levels of affordability in a project unit mix are met.

This bill makes changes to the property tax welfare exemption for rental housing offered to lower income families, including expanding the exemption to include vacant land and buildings under construction

This bill seeks to address California’s climate and ongoing housing crises by making it easier to build multifamily housing in key locations, while preserving environmentally sensitive areas that are crucial to fighting to fighting climate change.

This bill adds “adaptive reuse” projects to types of housing that qualifies communities for state’s “prohousing” designation. It would require the Build Standards Commission (BSC”), in consultation with the Department of Housing and Community Development (“HCD”), to update, clarify, and publish building standards for adaptive reuse projects.

This bill streamlines infill housing applications submitted before January 1, 2030, that require a general plan amendment or other legislative approval, prohibiting local governments from disapproving or imposing conditions unless it first makes written findings supported by a “preponderance of the evidence” in the record.

This bill makes office conversion to housing projects a use by right in all areas irrespective of local zoning.

AB 50 aims to improve energization timelines for new and existing electric customers. It clarifies the legal obligation of large electric companies to serve customers in a timely fashion. This would be within a deadline of 90 days for new connections and 30 days to upgrade existing connections or as set by the Public Utilities Commission. It also requires large electric corporations to evaluate and update their distribution processes, to meet regularly with county government staff to discuss the status of electrical capacity, and to report on capacity constraints to the state government.

This bill prohibits the increase of a regular assessment (e.g. HOA fees) on the owner of a deed-restricted affordable housing unit that is more than 5% greater than the preceding regular assessment for the association’s preceding fiscal year. This will create added financial protections for Below Market Rate (“BMR”) owners that are not located in 100% BMR unit developments.

This bill lowers the vote threshold for housing bonds from 2/3’s to 55%.

This bill permanently extends the provisions of SB 35, and expands them to cover mixed-income housing developments. SB 35, which is scheduled to sunset in January 2026, was signed into law in 2017.

Yes in God’s Backyard, or “YIGBY” bill, that requires 100% affordable housing to be a use by right and allow by request a streamlined review process, on any land owned by an independent institution of higher education or religious institution on or before January 1, 2024.

This bill would establish a ten-year funding commitment in the Constitution that dedicates five percent from the state’s general fund annually to the state’s affordable housing and homelessness crisis.