Housing element: emergency shelters: regional housing need.

(1) 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 a housing element. Existing law requires that the housing element identify adequate sites for housing, including rental housing, factory-built housing, mobilehomes, and emergency shelters, and make adequate provision for the existing and projected needs of all economic segments of a community. Existing law also requires that the housing element include an analysis of potential and actual governmental constraints upon the maintenance, improvement, or development of housing for all income levels. This bill would revise the requirements of the housing element, as described above, in connection with zoning designations that allow residential use, including mixed use, where emergency shelters are allowed as a permitted use without a conditional use or other discretionary permit. The bill would delete language regarding emergency shelter standards structured in relation to residential and commercial developments and instead require that emergency shelters only be subject to specified written, objective standards. The bill would specify that emergency shelters for purposes of these provisions include other interim intervention, including, but not limited to, navigation centers, bridge housing, and respite or recuperative care. The bill would require that identified zoning designations where emergency shelters are allowed to include sites that meet at least one of certain prescribed standards. In this regard, the bill would require those sites to be either (1) vacant and zoned for residential use; (2) vacant and zoned for nonresidential use if the local government can demonstrate how the sites are located near amenities and services that serve people experiencing homelessness; or (3) nonvacant if the site is suitable for use as a shelter in the current planning period, as specified. The bill would also authorize a local government to accommodate its need for emergency shelters on sites owned by the local government if it demonstrates that the sites will be made available for emergency shelter during the planning period, they are suitable for residential use, and the sites are located near amenities, as specified. The bill would require the identified zoning designations to include sufficient sites to accommodate the need for shelters, as specified. The bill would also require that the number of people experiencing homelessness that can be accommodated on each identified site under these provisions be demonstrated by dividing the square footage of the site by a minimum of 200 square feet per person, except as specified. (2) The Planning and Zoning Law requires a city, county, or city and county to ensure that its housing element inventory, as described, or its housing element program to make sites available, as described, can accommodate its share of the regional housing need at all times throughout the planning period. This bill would require each city, county, or city and county to ensure that its housing element inventory or its housing element program can accommodate its remaining unmet share of the regional housing need and any remaining unaccommodated portion of the regional housing need, as defined, from the prior planning period, at all times throughout the planning period. Existing law also prohibits a city, county, or city and county from reducing, requiring, or permitting the reduction of the residential density to a lower residential density that is below the density that was utilized by the Department of Housing and Community Development in determining compliance with housing element law, unless the city, county, or city and county makes specified written findings supported by substantial evidence. The bill would instead prohibit a city, county, or city and county from reducing, requiring, or permitting the reduction of the residential density to a lower residential density for any parcel identified to meet its current share of the regional housing need or any unaccommodated portion of the regional housing need, as defined, from the prior planning period, unless the city, county, or city and county makes specified written findings supported by substantial evidence. (3) By imposing various new duties on local governments with regard to the administration of housing elements, the 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.