News: Housing Accountability Act

Filter

A bill cosponsored by the California Apartment Association seeks to streamline the appeals process for affordable housing developers when local governments violate California’s Housing Accountability Act. Under the state’s Housing Accountability Act, cities and counties are prohibited from rejecting affordable housing developments unless certain conditions exist. Yet officials frequently reject projects in defiance of the law. The story usually stops there. Most developers are reluctant to challenge a city or county in court because of the required time, expenses, and uncertainty. Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel AB 989 by Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel, D-Van Nuys, seeks to remedy this situation by creating a… Read More

Tagged:

The California Apartment Association this year is again sponsoring legislation to put a dent in the state’s ongoing housing shortage. One of the bills, SB 621 by Sen. Susan Eggman, D-Stockton, would encourage the conversion of vacant hotels and motels into multifamily housing. Assemblywoman Susan Eggman Vacant hotels and motels often are located close to where people live and work. Converting the unused buildings would help revitalize economically depressed spaces, generate jobs, unlock commercial corridors, and rejuvenate communities. The bill would create a streamlined ministerial process for converting hotels and motels into apartment buildings. The process would include objective planning… Read More

Tagged:

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday passed a CAA-sponsored bill to help prevent local governments from arbitrarily denying housing projects.

Tagged:

The Assembly has passed a CAA-sponsored bill to help prevent local governments from arbitrarily denying housing projects. The bill, AB 678 by Assemblyman Raul Bocanegra, D-San Fernando, adds much-needed teeth to California’s Housing Accountability Act. The Housing Accountability Act requires that local governments follow certain legal mandates before denying housing projects that comply with their general plan and zoning rules. AB 678 would impose penalties, including fines for governments that fail to comply with the act. That money would be placed in a housing trust fund for the construction of affordable housing. The bill now heads to the Senate for… Read More

Tagged:

A pair of California Apartment Association-sponsored bills that would help solve the statewide housing crisis advanced Wednesday from the Assembly Local Government Committee on a unanimous vote. The bills, AB 943 and AB 352 by Assemblyman Miguel Santiago, D-Los Angeles,  would raise the voter threshold for approving no-growth measures and support the development of micro-apartment units, respectively.

Tagged:

Final legislative approval appears imminent for a bill that would allow groups like CAA to sue local governments when they deny housing projects in violation of state law. AB 2584 by Assemblyman Tom Daly, D-Anaheim, is on the Assembly floor today, where lawmakers are considering amendments made in the Senate. The upper house of the state Legislature passed the bill Monday on a 36-0 vote, with three abstentions. When the Assembly finishes its work, the bill is expected to reach the governor’s desk. The legislation is among one of four housing-production bills sponsored by the California Apartment Association this year.… Read More

Tagged:

With the state Legislature’s intense focus on housing this year, the California Apartment Association has played an unprecedented role in shaping policy at the Capitol. In the 2015-16 legislative session, CAA lobbied on 126 housing-related bills. While all lobbying activity is important, the Association’s work on the following bills was especially noteworthy: Seismic retrofit tax credit AB 2392 by Assemblyman Adrin Nazarian, D-Sherman Oaks, would establish the California Seismic Safety Capital Access Loan Program to assist residential property owners and small business owners in seismically retrofitting residences and small businesses. Position: Support Status: Senate Committee on Governance and Finance ADA… Read More

Tagged:

The California Apartment Association’s fight against rent control reaches far beyond city council votes and local ballot measures. It stretches back to Sacramento, where four CAA bills to increase the production of housing continue to progress through the state Legislature. CAA’s bills would prevent local government from delaying or blocking many housing proposals, including those opposed by NIMBYs, short for Not in My Backyard. For California to achieve a balance between new jobs and new homes, cities and counties must allow developments to move forward without unreasonable delay. Otherwise, families can’t find affordable housing near their jobs and schools —… Read More

Tagged:

Gov. Jerry Brown’s May revision to California’s spending plan would improve housing affordability by making it cheaper and easier for developers to build multifamily communities. Released this past Friday, the governor’s May revision espouses legislative changes to lift local obstacles to residential development. It favors market-based solutions, such as streamlining the development process, over costly government subsidies that help comparatively few people. “Hopefully, the supply is going to bring down the cost,” Brown said in this Los Angeles Times story. “Otherwise, through subsidies and through restrictions, we’re just spending more and more tax dollars and getting very, very little.” Brown’s… Read More

Tagged:

Under a bill heading to the Assembly floor, the California Apartment Association could bring legal action against a local government that denies housing projects in violation of state law. The CAA-sponsored proposal, AB 2584, advances to the floor after winning unanimous approval Tuesday in the Assembly Judiciary Committee. CAA sponsored this bill as California struggles for solutions to its unprecedented housing crisis, which has resulted from a severe lack of new housing construction, both market rate and affordable. The bill, authored by Assemblyman Tom Daly, D-Anaheim, expands the enforcement of the Housing Accountability Act by allowing groups that represent tenants… Read More

Tagged: