Legislative Outcomes
Habitat California works alongside our statewide network of affiliates to advance policies that expand affordable homeownership, strengthen Habitat’s work, and remove barriers for the families and communities we serve. The legislation below represents bills sponsored or supported by Habitat California that were passed by the Legislature and signed into law by the Governor - important policy victories made possible through persistent advocacy, strong partnerships, and the collective voice of the Habitat network.
2024 Legislative Session
Year after year, Habitat California works with our statewide network and partners to turn advocacy into action. These enacted measures represent meaningful progress toward expanding and preserving affordable homeownership across California.
AB 1868 (Friedman) Property taxation and assessments
SPONSORED
This law imposes a state-mandated local program that creates consistency across assessors' offices for valuing real properties with enforceable restrictions. For real property subject to a contract with a nonprofit organization that meets certain ownership and affordability requirements, including affordability resale restrictions and a recorded deed of trust in favor of a nonprofit corporation, there shall be a rebuttable presumption that the value of the real property at the time of purchase is no greater than the sum of the value of the first mortgage and any applicable down payment.
AB 1820 (Schiavo) Fee and exaction estimates
This bill requires cities to provide an estimate of the impact fees required for a proposed housing development within 10 days of the preliminary building permit application, at the developer's request. While existing state law requires these fees to be posted online, many cities have not complied and don't disclose them until projects are well underway.
AB 1893 (Wicks) Builders Remedy
This bill amends the Housing Accountability Act (HAA) to revise the standards a housing development project must meet in order to qualify for the “Builder’s Remedy,” which authorizes projects to bypass local development standards in jurisdictions that fail to adopt a substantially compliant housing element. This bill also expands the scope of actions that constitute disapproval of a housing development project by a local government. The purpose of the bill is to increase usage of the "Builders Remedy" and increase affordable housing development.
AB 2553 (Friedman) Major transit stops
This bill redefines "major transit stop" for the purposes of the California Environmental Equality Act (CEQA) to contain the intersection of two or more bus routes with a frequency of service interval of 20 minutes or less, rather than 15 minutes or less, clarifying when a local jurisdiction must impose lower traffic impact fees for development within one-half mile of a "major transit stop".
AB 2663 (Grayson) Inclusionary fee transparency
Within the existing law of the Mitigation Fee Act, and effective January 1, 2026, this bill requires local agencies that collect inclusionary housing in-lieu fees to post on their website specified information about the amount of fees collected and how they were spent.
AB 2729 (Joe Patterson) Impact fee collection
This bill limits a local agency's ability to collect impact fees prior to final inspection of certificate of occupancy.
AB 2813 (Aguiar-Curry) Government Investment Act
This bill, for purposes of ACA 1 (now Proposition 5), defines affordable housing to include rental housing, ownership housing, interim housing, and affordable housing programs such as downpayment assistance, first-time homebuyer programs, and owner-occupied affordable housing rehabilitation programs, that are affordable to households earning up to 150% of countywide median income.
Habitat for Humanity California worked very closely with the author to ensure homeownership language had a very specific callout in this bill.
SB 440 (Skinner) Regional Housing Finance Authorities
This bill empowers local governments to join forces to create regional housing finance agencies like those created by the State Legislature - the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority (BAHFA) and the Los Angeles County Affordable Housing Solutions Agency (LACAHSA) - to address the unique affordable housing needs in their communities. These agencies will be able to generate revenue for the construction, preservation, and management of affordable and missing middle housing in their region. These agencies can be formed locally without State Legislature intervention.
SB 450 (Atkins) Cleanup for SB9 bad actors
SB 9, passed in 2021, eliminated single family zoning by allowing homeowners to split their lots to build a duplex. Many cities have enacted onerous standards that make it impossible for homeowners to proceed with SB 9 projects.
SB 450 addresses some of the most egregious examples of bad faith SB 9 implementation:
prohibits local governments from assigning objective zoning, subdivision, or design standards to SB 9 projects that do not apply to the underlying zoning (single-unit zoning)
requires local governments to respond to SB 9 applications within 60 days, after which time the application will be deemed approved
bars local governments from denying a lot split application based on its impact on the physical environment
gives the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) oversight and enforcement authority over SB 9
SB 937 (Wiener) Delay of certain impact fees
This bill allows homebuilders to delay the payment of certain impact fees until a certificate of occupancy is issued for their project, providing financial flexibility for the project, while ensuring that local services remain funded.
SB 1077 (Blakespear) Coastal permitting processes
This bill directs the California Coastal Commission to work in coordination with the California Department of Housing and Community Development to develop and provide guidance for local governments to simplify the permitting process for accessory dwelling units and junior accessory dwelling units within the coastal zone.
SB 1123 (Caballero) Streamlined approvals for infill developments
Passed in 2023, SB 684 (Caballero) streamlines approvals for “starter” homes in infill developments of 10 homes or less in multi-family zones. It also amends the Subdivision Map Act to make it faster and easier to split a single parcel into multiple, smaller properties, each with their own home. SB 1123 expands SB 684 to allow the bill to be used on vacant lots in single family zones, creating more affordable homeownership opportunities in neighborhoods that have traditionally excluded lower- and middle-income families and communities of color.
The bill further clarifies existing provisions in SB 684 to ensure a variety of low-cost homeownership types and builders are eligible to use the bill, including tenancies-in-common and community land trusts.
