Land use: housing element.

The Planning and Zoning Law requires each city, county, and city and county to prepare and adopt a general plan that contains certain mandatory elements, including a housing element that analyzes existing and projected housing needs and includes a statement of goals, quantified objectives, policies, financial resources, and scheduled programs for the maintenance, preservation, improvement, and development of housing. The Department of Housing and Community Development, in consultation with each council of governments, is required to determine each region's existing and projected regional housing need, as specified. The appropriate council of governments, or for cities and counties without a council of governments, the department, is required to adopt a final regional housing need plan that allocates a share of the regional housing need to each city, county, or city and county, as specified. For specified housing elements, if a city or county in the prior planning period failed to identify or make available adequate sites to accommodate that portion of the regional housing need allocated to it, the city or county is required, within the first year of the planning period of the new housing element, to zone or rezone adequate sites to accommodate the unaccommodated portion of the regional housing need allocation from the prior planning period. This bill would, as an alternative, provide that if a city or county in the prior planning period failed to identify or make available adequate sites to accommodate that portion of the regional housing need allocated to it, the city or county, within the first year of the planning period of the new housing element, would be authorized to identify adequate sites to accommodate the unaccommodated portion of the regional housing need allocation from the prior planning period.