Housing Cost Reduction Incentive Program.

Existing law establishes, among other housing programs, the Multifamily Housing Program, pursuant to which the Department of Housing and Community Development provides financial assistance in the form of deferred payment loans to pay for the eligible costs of development for specified types of housing projects. Existing law, the Mitigation Fee Act, establishes procedures and limitations with respect to the establishment, increase, or imposition of fees, as defined, as a condition of approval of a development project by a local agency, including requiring the local agency to determine the reasonable relationship between the fee's use and the type of development project on which the fee is imposed. This bill would establish the Housing Cost Reduction Incentive Program, to be administered by the department, for the purpose of reimbursing cities, counties, and cities and counties for development impact fee reductions provided to qualified housing developments, as defined, and for the reasonable interest costs associated with impact fee deferrals. Upon appropriation, the bill would require the department to provide grants to applicants in an amount equal to 50% of the amount of development impact fee reduced for a qualified housing development and grants to applicants in an amount equal to the accrued interest on a deferred development impact fee, as provided. This bill would require the department to administer these grants by issuing a Notice of Funding Availability before December 31 of the year that the program receives funding, as specified, and accepting grant applications after the subsequent year. The bill would require a public entity that receives grant funds under the program to use those funds solely for those purposes for which the development impact fee that was reduced or deferred would have been used. The bill would require the department to adopt guidelines to implement the program and exempt those guidelines from the rulemaking provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act. The bill would require the department to solicit and consider stakeholder comments in the design and implementation of the program, as specified, and to provide responses in writing to substantive written comments.