California Senate Bill 35 (2017)

Under existing law, every locality (cities and unincorporated parts of counties) has a housing production goal for low by income level in the Regional Housing Needs Assessments (RHNA). SB 35 requires localities to report their housing production by income level in their annual housing element progress reports (APRs). The units produced is compared to the RHNA targets at the halfway point and end of each cycle. If the locality does not meet its pro-rated RHNA goals, then certain projects can use a streamlined approval process over the next half-cycle. In order to use the streamlined approval process, the development must: • follow all local objective zoning and design standards • designate some units to be priced below market rate for people making certain incomes: == Background ==

California housing costs are among the most unaffordable in the United States. In 2018, the median San Jose home cost 10 times the median household income; Los Angeles homes cost 9.5 times; San Francisco homes cost 8.9 times; San Diego homes cost 8.1 times. California is the most expensive state to rent in, in the United States. California has had a housing shortage since 1970 and ranks 49th among 50 states for housing units per capita. The problem has worsened following the Great Recession as housing development fell to 40,000 units in 2009 and has not reached pre-recession levels. California needs approximately 180,000 units per year to match current growth. The housing shortage negatively impacts the Economy of California. Wiener introduced SB 35 to increase housing supply and stabilize or decrease home prices. File:California_Housing_Production_1990_to_2018_with_Housing_Demand.jpg|thumb|right|California has built fewer units than needed since 1990. The RHNA determines the amount of low-income, moderate income, and market housing each municipality is expected to construct to meet regional housing needs. However, 97.6% of cities in California do not construct the required number of low-income housing units allocated. == Opposition ==

The League of California Cities and many municipal governments opposed SB 35 for imposing state control over local planning rules. In 2021, Huntington Beach lost the lawsuit and decided not to appeal. == Impact ==

Some housing experts believed the impact of SB 35 on overall housing production will be minimal due to the standards required to meet streamlining approval. As of November 2019, officials had approved more than 6,000 homes under SB 35, including 4,700 in the Bay Area and 1,600 in Southern California. A report in 2023 found that between 2018 and 2021, 156 pending and approved housing projects had resulted from the law with the projects total 18,215 proposed new units, two-thirds of which was affordable housing. Cities Affected by SB 35 As of 2024, 47 cities and counties had met their lower and above moderate income RHNA. 254 jurisdictions had not created enough housing to meet their above moderate income RHNA. Projects in these jurisdictions can qualify for SB 35 housing if developments with 10% of housing units devoted to below market housing. 238 jurisdictions had not created enough housing to meet their above very low and low-income RHNA. 681 Florida Street The Mission Economic Development Agency (MEDA), an affordable housing development agency, used SB 35 to expedite construction of a 100% affordable housing development in San Francisco’s Mission District. Without SB 35, the development would have followed the normal approval process and been delayed for 6 months to a year. == Amendments ==

In 2021 AB1174 was signed into law, which gives projects (like Vallco) using the special approval of SB35 more time to start construction to compensate for delays caused by lawsuits. SB 423 In 2023, SB 423 was signed into law, which extended the Sunset provision for SB 35 for ten years until January 1, 2036, expands the scope and geographic reach of SB 35’s ministerial review process and modifies SB 35’s labor and affordability requirements. In particular, SB 423 included a legislative finding that affordable housing is a statewide concern instead of a municipal concern, and expanded SB 35's amendments of Government Code Section 65913.4 to apply to all cities, including charter cities. Finally, SB 423 narrowed SB 35's broad exemptions within the coastal zone (and, by extension, the broad powers of the Coastal Act and the California Coastal Commission to prohibit streamlined multifamily housing within the zone), allowing for some areas in the coastal zone to be eligible for streamlined multifamily housing development under SB 35. The law entered into force in San Francisco on June 28, 2024, and will enter into force in the rest of California on January 1, 2026. == See also ==