Attorney General Bonta Issues Statement on Legislation to Facilitate Housing Production

SAN FRANCISCO - California Attorney General Rob Bonta today issued the following statement in response to Governor Gavin Newsom signing into law Assembly Bill (AB) 1893, which will facilitate housing production in cities and counties that fail to adopt a compliant housing element on time. AB 1893 was authored by Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland) and sponsored by Attorney General Rob Bonta.

"We need more housing in California. At its core, that's what AB 1893 is all about. In the face of resistance by a handful of local governments, we are refusing to stand idly by - we are continuing to act," said Attorney General Rob Bonta. "Thanks to Governor Newsom, and to Assemblymember Wicks' leadership in the legislature, cities and counties will face greater accountability if they fail to plan for the housing needs of their community. I know full well that no jurisdiction alone will be able to solve our housing crisis, but each has the potential, capacity, and legal responsibility to make a difference."

"With this bill, we're making sure that every city and county steps up to do their part. Housing laws exist for a reason - to ensure that communities are zoning for enough housing, reducing barriers to development, and promoting fair housing practices," said Assemblymember Buffy Wicks. "AB 1893 will hold jurisdictions accountable, even those that have resisted compliance. This is about ensuring that no matter where you live, we are building the housing California desperately needs. I'm incredibly proud to partner with the Attorney General on this - together, we're making sure California's housing laws are enforced, and ensuring no community can shirk its responsibility to build."

Under the state's housing element law, local governments must periodically update their housing plan to meet their Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA), or share of the regional and statewide housing needs. Failure to adopt a timely and compliant local housing plan triggers the so-called "builder's remedy," a provision in effect since 1990 that limits the ability of local governments to restrict the development of new affordable and mixed-income housing development projects. Effective January 1, 2025, AB 1893 will modernize and improve the efficacy of the builder's remedy by:

• Designating sites appropriate for residential development, including housing, retail, and office space, even where a city has refused to make its own plan. Sites that abut, or share a border with, a heavy industrial use would be precluded from the builder's remedy. Industrial uses can pose environmental threats to housing that is located nearby.
• Providing clear objective standards such as by increasing allowed density - particularly in high and highest resource areas; areas where people have less need to drive; or areas that are near transit. High and highest resource areas provide greater opportunities for children to thrive because they are neighborhoods with positive economic, educational, and health outcomes. The state's Opportunity Map shows the high and highest resource areas and can be found here.
• Incentivizing housing construction by making many more development projects financially feasible. Specifically, AB 1893 does so by reducing, from 20% to 13%, the portion of units in mixed-income projects that must be provided at subsidized prices to accommodate low-income households. In addition, the affordability requirement can now alternatively be met by making sure that 10% of units are affordable to very low-income households or 7% for extremely low-income households, thus better serving Californians most in need. "Missing middle" projects of 10 units and fewer - including duplexes and townhomes - will be exempted from the affordability requirement. State income limits for what constitutes low-, very low-, and extremely low-income Californians vary by county and can be found here.
• Allowing city planning staff to quickly process builder's remedy applications, since they will be required to utilize the baseline development standards set forth in the bill. Existing law is less certain.
• Strengthening the Housing Accountability Act by closing loopholes and defining certain processing delays as project disapprovals.
• Making technical amendments to clarify how the builder's remedy interacts with other state law.

A copy of the legislation can be found here.