SB 341 Housing Successor Agency Annual Reports

After the dissolution of redevelopment agencies, housing successors assumed the housing powers, obligations, and physical assets of the former redevelopment agencies. In most cases, the city or county that hosted the redevelopment agency became the housing successor. Housing successors are subject to all of the housing-related provisions of the Community Redevelopment Law (CRL), but this law was written for redevelopment agencies which were required to use at least 20% of all redevelopment tax increment for housing (more than $1 billion per year in funding).

Senate Bill 341 (SB 341) revises the requirements governing expenditures and activities for the housing successors, assuming the housing functions of a former redevelopment agency. Specifically, it:

1. Allows the housing successor, each fiscal year, to spend up to 2% of the statutory value of real property owned by the housing successor and of loans and grants receivable, including real property, on administrative costs of monitoring and preserving the long-term affordability of units and other activities as specified

2. Allows the housing successor, once it has fulfilled its monitoring obligations and its obligations to replace low- and moderate-income housing that has been removed or destroyed, to spend up to $250,000 on homeless prevention and rapid rehousing activities for families and individuals

3. Requires the housing successor to spend any funds remaining on the development of housing affordable to and occupied by households earning 80% or less of area median income (AMI)

4. Requires a housing successor to complete a report in 2019, and every five years after, which demonstrates that it has spent funds on the specified income categories from January 1, 2014 through the end of the latest fiscal year

Fiscal Year 2019-2020 Housing Successor Annual Report

Fiscal Year 2019-2020 Housing Authority Annual Report

AB 1486 Surplus Land Act

Assembly Bill 1486 (AB 1486) expands the list of exemptions from the Surplus Land Act to include surplus land that is put out to open, competitive bid by a local agency for either:

• A housing development that restricts 100% of units to low- or moderate-income households, with at least 75% of units restricted to low-income, for at least 55 years, with a maximum affordable sales price or rent level that does not exceed 20% below median market rents or sales prices for the neighborhood in which the development is located

• A mixed-use development that includes at least 300 units and restricts at least 25% of the units to lower-income households, with an affordable sales price or rent level, for at least 55 years

AB 1486 also requires a local agency that is disposing of surplus land for the purpose of developing low- and moderate-income housing to send a notice of availability to housing sponsors that have notified HCD (rather than the appropriate council of governments) of their interest. Requires HCD to maintain a list of all notices of availability on its website.

Finally, AB 1486 prohibits the negotiations between a disposing agency and interested entities to determine price and terms to:

• Disallow residential use of the site as a condition of its sale or lease

• Reduce the allowable number of residential units or the maximum lot coverage below what may be allowed by zoning or general plan requirements

• Require as a condition of sale or lease, any design standards or architectural requirements that would have a substantial adverse effect on the viability or affordability of a housing development for very low-, low-, or moderate-income households, other than the minimum standards required by general plan, zoning, and subdivision standards and criteria

  Surplus Land Act Guidelines

  AB 1486 Questions and Answers

Please visit the HCD website for more information.

AB 1255 Inventory of Surplus/Excess Land

Assembly Bill 1255 (AB 1255) requires each city and county to report to the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) an inventory of its surplus lands located in urbanized areas or urban clusters. The law also requires HCD to provide this information to the Department of General Services (DGS) for inclusion in a digitized inventory of state surplus land sites.

Specifically, this bill requires each city and county to:

• Make a central inventory, on or before December 31st of each year, of its surplus land and any land it owns or controls that is in excess of its foreseeable needs and is located in an urbanized area and urban cluster within its jurisdiction

• Report to HCD by April 1st of each year as part of its annual progress report, beginning in 2021, a description of each parcel included in the inventory. Requires this information to also be made public record. Requires the inventory to include for each site:

  • street address or similar location information

  • Assessor’s Parcel Number (APN)

  • existing use

  • whether the site is surplus land or exempt surplus land

  • size in acres
    

• Provide a list, upon request, of its surplus lands free of charge

Please visit the HCD website for more information.