2024 California Legislature Concludes its Session; Multiple Housing and Homelessness Bills Await Governor’s Signature

The 2024 California Legislative session concluded early on Sunday, September 1, 2024, following an unsuccessful attempt by the Governor to call a special session to pass a bill to combat gas spikes. Several potentially impactful housing and homelessness bills passed the legislature and are now awaiting the Governor’s signature. The Governor has until September 30 to sign, approve without signing, or veto a bill; if the Governor vetoes the bill, a two-thirds vote in each house is needed to override the veto, a difficult hurdle to overcome. Last year, the Governor vetoed around 15% of bills that landed on his desk.

The following bills made it to the Governor’s desk and await his signature. Bills with an asterisk (*) denote second-year bills. Bills must be signed or vetoed by the Governor by September 30.

Produce Housing for All

• AB 1893 (Wicks, D-Oakland) would modify the infamous “builders remedy,” the law that states that if a jurisdiction does not have a “substantially compliant” housing element, jurisdictions cannot use its own zoning or general plan standards to disapprove any housing project that meets the 20% affordability requirements. This bill is intended to make the tool more accessible in cities that continue to find paths to deny these projects, and the bill seeks to put guardrails on allowable densities for such projects.
• SB 7 (Blakespear, D-Encinitas)* would, for the first time, require cities and counties to plan enough beds for people experiencing homelessness. This would go beyond just temporary shelter, also including permanent housing placements.
• SB 440 (Skinner, D-Oakland)* would authorize two or more local governments to establish a regional housing authority to raise, administer, and allocate funds and provide technical assistance for affordable housing development.
• SB 937 (Wiener, D-San Francisco) would temporarily defer cities’ collection of development fees (also known as impact fees), allowing more housing projects to pencil out. The legislation also extends entitlements, allowing projects on pause due to high interest rates to retain a key permit until market conditions improve. SB 937 provides builders with the flexibility to navigate challenging market conditions while protecting a key source of revenue for local governments.
• SB 1210 (Skinner, D-Oakland) would reduce the cost of housing by lowering and capping utility hook-up fees, such as for water, sewer, electrical, and gas service, on all new housing units. Currently, hook-up fees for electric, gas, sewer, or water service can add tens of thousands of dollars to the cost of each housing unit, including ADUs. Under SB 1210, each utility hook-up fee would be capped at 1% of the cost of the building permit value of the housing unit.
• SB 1211 (Skinner, D-Oakland) would allow more detached ADUs on properties with multifamily housing. For example, a property with 24 apartments would be eligible to add a minimum of two and up to six detached ADUs (space permitting). In addition, if a property owner decides to replace a carport or driveway with an ADU, they would not be required to replace that parking.

Preserve Vulnerable Housing

• AB 2533 (Juan Carrillo, D-Palmdale) would create an amnesty program for unpermitted ADUs, allowing them to be brought up to housing code standards and legalization without significant penalty.
• AB 2926 (Kalra, D-San Jose) would require projects with expiring affordability covenants to sell to qualified preservation buyers.

Promote Equity and Inclusion

• AB 1788 (Quirk-Silva, D-La Palma) would establish homeless adult and family multidisciplinary teams in each county to expedite outreach and services to individuals experiencing homelessness, additionally allowing the sharing of confidential information to coordinate supportive services.
• AB 1840 (Arambula, D-Fresno) would include undocumented persons in the definition of a first-time homebuyer for the California Dream for All downpayment and shared equity program. However, even if the bill is signed, there were no funds appropriated for this program this year.
• AB 3093 (Ward, D-San Diego) would formally require the state to consider how housing assistance, policies, and goals affect people experiencing homelessness in the Statewide Housing Plan process.
• SB 1395 (Becker, D-Menlo Park) would extend exemptions under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) for homeless shelters and Low-Barrier Navigation Centers, which are streamlined access points designed to reduce obstacles for unhoused individuals seeking shelter and services. The bill would also broaden the scope of state programs under Housing First policies to include emergency shelter or interim housing services.

Prevent Displacement

• AB 653 (Reyes, D-San Bernardino)* would create the Housing Voucher Utilization Program to provide resources that increase voucher utilization through housing navigation, landlord incentives, and security deposits and to collect better data on voucher holders’ success in finding a home.

Protect Tenants and Small Landlords

• AB 2801 (Friedman, D-Burbank) revisits security deposit regulations, tightening the criteria for landlords’ claims to justify not returning a deposit and emphasizing the need for landlord transparency with photographic evidence of repairs or cleanings that justify using a deposit.
• AB 2304 (Lee, D-Milpitas) would close a loophole related to disclosure when tenants are party to a civil eviction process. The bill ensures tenants are not unfairly penalized on rental applications if they have won their civil eviction cases.
• AB 2347 (Kalra, D-San Jose) would provide eviction mis-service protections, extending time for the defendant of an eviction notice to file a response.
• SB 924 (Bradford, D-Inglewood) would eliminate the sunset date of a current law that requires affordable housing landlords to offer tenants the option of having their rental payments reported to consumer reporting agencies to help build credit. Current law provisions expire on January 1, 2025.

Unfortunately, several notable bills did not make it through the session, including:

Produce Housing for All

• AB 1657 (Wicks, D-Oakland)* would authorize the $10B Affordable Housing Bond Act of 2024 to replenish and expand the state’s affordable housing programs, including affordable rental housing for lower-income families, homeownership opportunities, and supportive housing for people experiencing homelessness.
• AB 2909 (Santiago, D-Los Angeles) would expand the Mills Act, an economic incentive program in California for the restoration and preservation of qualified historic buildings by private property owners to further incentivize converting commercial buildings to residential uses. Specifically, the bill would make buildings that are at least 30 years old and located in commercial zones eligible for Mills Act contracts and require that property tax savings be reinvested in retrofitting and repurposing existing buildings to create new residential rental units.
• AB 2728 (Gabriel, D-Encino) would update SB 4 by requiring the jurisdictions to develop a plan in the housing element that incentivizes and promotes the production of very low, low-, and moderate-income housing on land owned by faith-based institutions and independent institutions of higher education. Jurisdictions would be required to track progress as part of their annual progress report, and HCD would have to develop a list of state grants to support such development.

Preserve Vulnerable Housing

• AB 1789 (Quirk-Silva, D-La Palma) would expand the California Housing and Community Development Department’s (HCD) Portfolio Reinvestment Program by authorizing the provision of loans and grants for rehabilitating projects that are at least 15 years old and have insufficient access to private/public resources to complete necessary rehabs. This bill would give priority to projects that have expired covenants or covenants that have less than 10 years remaining or are otherwise at risk for conversion.

Prevent Displacement

• A B 1333(Ward, D-San Diego)* would prohibit the bulk sale of two or more parcels of single-family homes to defined institutional investors, granting families and individuals the same opportunity to purchase homes that would otherwise be sold directly to institutional investors.