Density bonuses.

The Planning and Zoning Law requires, when an applicant proposes a housing development within the jurisdiction of a local government, that the city, county, or city and county provide the developer with a density bonus and other incentives or concessions for the production of lower income housing units or for the donation of land within the development if the developer, among other things, agrees to construct a specified percentage of units for very low, low-, or moderate-income households or qualifying residents. That law makes an applicant ineligible for a density bonus if the housing development is proposed on property with existing or certain former dwelling units subject to specific affordability requirements, including a form of rent or price control through a public entity's valid exercise of its police power, or on property with existing units occupied by lower or very low income households, unless the proposed housing development replaces those units as prescribed. That law defines "replace" for those purposes to mean, among other things, providing the same number of equivalent units to persons or families in the same or lower income categories. This bill would revise that definition of "replace" to require a rebuttable presumption, based on certain federal data, regarding the proportion of lower income renter households that occupy existing units, if the income category of the households in occupancy is not known. The bill, if the property for the proposed housing development is subject to a form of rent or price control through a local government's valid exercise of its police power and is or was occupied by a person or family with an income above lower income, would authorize the city, county, or city and county either to require replacement units to be made available at affordable rent or affordable housing cost to, and occupied by, low-income persons or families, as specified, or to require the units to be replaced in compliance with the rent or price control ordinance of the jurisdiction. By increasing the duties of local officials, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 65915 of the Government Code, proposed by AB 2442 and AB 2501, that would become operative only if this bill and either or both of those bills are chaptered and become effective on or before January 1, 2017, and this bill is chaptered last.