Planning and zoning: supportive housing: number of units: emergency shelter zones.

The Planning and Zoning Law requires the legislative body of each county and city to adopt a comprehensive, long-term general plan for the physical development of the county or city that includes, among other mandatory elements, a housing element. Under that law, supportive housing, as defined, is a use by right in zones where multifamily and mixed uses are permitted if the developer provides the planning agency with a plan for providing supportive services and the proposed housing development meets specified criteria, including that the housing development consist of 50 units or fewer if it is located in an unincorporated area of a county or city that has a population of fewer than 200,000 and a population of persons experiencing homelessness of 1,500 or fewer. This bill would, additionally, make supportive housing a use by right in zones where emergency shelters are permitted. The bill would revise the above-described limit on the number of units in a housing development to 120 or fewer if it is located within a region served by a contimuum of care, as defined, and the most recently published total homeless point-in-time count for the region is 1,500 or fewer. The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA does not apply to the ministerial approval of projects. This bill, by expanding the locations in which, and sizes of, supportive housing that qualify as a use by right, would expand the exemption for the ministerial approval of projects under CEQA. By adding to the duties of local planning 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.