Existing law, the Planning and Zoning Law, requires each city, county, and city and county to adopt a general plan that includes, among other things, a housing element. After a legislative body has adopted all or part of a general plan, existing law requires a planning agency among other things, to provide by April 1 of each year an annual report to specified entities that includes prescribed information, including the number of housing development applications received in the prior year, as specified, the number of units of housing demolished, and the number of new units of housing, as specified.

This bill would, beginning with the report due by April 1, 2027, require specified information to be included in the report, including additional information regarding units of new housing, the units of housing demolished, and a report on replacement housing units, as specified.

For purposes of the housing element portion of the report described above, existing law authorizes a planning agency to include the number of units in an existing multifamily building that were converted to deed-restricted rental housing for moderate-income households by the imposition of affordability covenants and restrictions for the unit, as specified, if the units meet certain criteria.

This bill would, beginning with the report due by April 1, 2027, for purposes of the housing element portion of the report, authorize a planning agency to include the number of units in an existing multifamily building that were converted to affordable housing by imposition of long-term affordability covenants and restrictions that require the unit to be available to persons or families of low, very low, extremely low, or acutely low income at an affordable rent or affordable housing cost for at least 55 years, if the units meet certain criteria.

This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 65400 of the Government Code proposed by AB 726 to be operative only if this bill and AB 726 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.

Existing law, the Planning and Zoning Law, requires each city, county, and city and county to adopt a general plan that includes, among other things, a housing element. After a legislative body has adopted all or part of a general plan, existing law requires a planning agency among other things, to provide by April 1 of each year an annual report to specified entities that includes prescribed information, including the number of housing development applications received in the prior year, as specified, the number of units of housing demolished, and the number of new units of housing, as specified.

This bill would, beginning with the report due by April 1, 2027, require specified information to be included in the report, including additional information regarding units of new housing, the units of housing demolished, and a report on replacement housing units, as specified.

For purposes of the housing element portion of the report described above, existing law authorizes a planning agency to include the number of units in an existing multifamily building that were converted to deed-restricted rental housing for moderate-income households by the imposition of affordability covenants and restrictions for the unit, as specified, if the units meet certain criteria.

This bill would, beginning with the report due by April 1, 2027, for purposes of the housing element portion of the report, authorize a planning agency to include the number of units in an existing multifamily building that were converted to affordable housing by imposition of long-term affordability covenants and restrictions that require the unit to be available to persons or families of low, very low, extremely low, or acutely low income at an affordable rent or affordable housing cost for at least 55 years, if the units meet certain criteria.

This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 65400 of the Government Code proposed by AB 726 to be operative only if this bill and AB 726 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.

Existing law, the Planning and Zoning Law, requires each city, county, and city and county to adopt a general plan that includes, among other things, a housing element. After a legislative body has adopted all or part of a general plan, existing law requires a planning agency among other things, to provide by April 1 of each year an annual report to specified entities that includes prescribed information, including the number of housing development applications received in the prior year, as specified, the number of units of housing demolished, and the number of new units of housing, as specified.

This bill would, beginning with the report due by April 1, 2027, require specified information to be included in the report, including additional information regarding units of new housing, the units of housing demolished, and a report on replacement housing units, as specified.

For purposes of the housing element portion of the report described above, existing law authorizes a planning agency to include the number of units in an existing multifamily building that were converted to deed-restricted rental housing for moderate-income households by the imposition of affordability covenants and restrictions for the unit, as specified, if the units meet certain criteria.

This bill would, beginning with the report due by April 1, 2027, for purposes of the housing element portion of the report, authorize a planning agency to include the number of units in an existing multifamily building that were converted to affordable housing by imposition of long-term affordability covenants and restrictions that require the unit to be available to persons or families of low, very low, extremely low, or acutely low income at an affordable rent or affordable housing cost for at least 55 years, if the units meet certain criteria.

Existing law, the Planning and Zoning Law, requires each city, county, and city and county to adopt a general plan that includes, among other things, a housing element. After a legislative body has adopted all or part of a general plan, existing law requires a planning agency among other things, to provide by April 1 of each year an annual report to specified entities that includes prescribed information, including the number of housing development applications received in the prior year, as specified, the number of units of housing demolished, and the number of new units of housing, as specified.

This bill would, beginning with the report due by April 1, 2027, require specified information to be included in the report, including additional information regarding units of new housing, the units of housing demolished, and a report on replacement housing units, as specified.

For purposes of the housing element portion of the report described above, existing law authorizes a planning agency to include the number of units in an existing multifamily building that were converted to deed-restricted rental housing for moderate-income households by the imposition of affordability covenants and restrictions for the unit, as specified, if the units meet certain criteria.

This bill would, beginning with the report due by April 1, 2027, for purposes of the housing element portion of the report, authorize a planning agency to include the number of units in an existing multifamily building that were converted to affordable housing by imposition of long-term affordability covenants and restrictions that require the unit to be available to persons or families of low, very low, extremely low, or acutely low income at an affordable rent or affordable housing cost for at least 55 years, if the units meet certain criteria.

Existing law, the Planning and Zoning Law, requires each city, county, and city and county to adopt a general plan that includes, among other things, a housing element. After a legislative body has adopted all or part of a general plan, existing law requires a planning agency among other things, to provide by April 1 of each year an annual report to specified entities that includes prescribed information, including the number of housing development applications received in the prior year, as specified, the number of units of housing demolished demolished, and the number of new units of housing, as specified.

This bill would would, beginning with the report due by April 1, 2027, require specified information to be included in the report, including additional information regarding units of new housing, the units of housing demolished, and a report on replacement housing units, as specified.

For purposes of the housing element portion of the report described above, existing law authorizes a planning agency to include the number of units in an existing multifamily building that were converted to deed-restricted rental housing for moderate-income households by the imposition of affordability covenants and restrictions for the unit, as specified, if the units meet certain criteria.

This bill would, beginning with the report due by April 1, 2027, for purposes of the housing element portion of the report described above, report, authorize a planning agency to include the number of units in an existing multifamily building that were converted to affordable housing by imposition of long-term affordability covenants and restrictions that require the unit to be available to persons or families of low, very low, extremely low, or acutely low income at an affordable rent or affordable housing cost for at least 55 years, if the units meet certain criteria.

Existing law, the Planning and Zoning Law, requires each city, county, and city and county to adopt a general plan that includes, among other things, a housing element. After a legislative body has adopted all or part of a general plan, existing law requires a planning agency among other things, to provide by April 1 of each year an annual report to specified entities that includes prescribed information, including the number of housing development applications received in the prior year, as specified, the number of units of housing demolished and new units of housing, as specified.

This bill would require specified information to be included in the report, including additional information regarding units of new housing, the units of housing demolished, and a report on replacement housing units, as specified.

For purposes of the housing element portion of the report described above, existing law authorizes a planning agency to include the number of units in an existing multifamily building that were converted to deed-restricted rental housing for moderate-income households by the imposition of affordability covenants and restrictions for the unit, as specified, if the units meet certain criteria.

This bill would, for purposes of the housing element portion of the report described above, authorize a planning agency to include the number of units in an existing multifamily building that were converted to affordable housing by imposition of long-term affordability covenants and restrictions that require the unit to be available to persons or families of low, very low, extremely low, or acutely low income at an affordable rent or affordable housing cost for at least 55 years, if the units meet certain criteria.

Existing law, the Planning and Zoning Law, requires each city, county, and city and county to adopt a general plan that includes, among other things, a housing element. After a legislative body has adopted all or part of a general plan, existing law requires a planning agency among other things, to provide by April 1 of each year an annual report to specified entities that includes prescribed information, including the number of housing development applications received in the prior year, as specified, the number of units of housing demolished and new units of housing, as specified.

This bill would require specified information to be included in the report, including additional information regarding units of new housing, the units of housing demolished, and a report on replacement housing units, as specified.

For purposes of the housing element portion of the report described above, existing law authorizes a planning agency to include the number of units in an existing multifamily building that were converted to deed-restricted rental housing for moderate-income households by the imposition of affordability covenants and restrictions for the unit, as specified, if the units meet certain criteria.

This bill would, for purposes of the housing element portion of the report described above, authorize a planning agency to include the number of units in an existing multifamily building that were converted to affordable housing by imposition of long-term affordability covenants and restrictions that require the unit to be available to persons or families of low, very low, extremely low, or acutely low income at an affordable rent or affordable housing cost for at least 55 years, if the units meet certain criteria.

CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS

CSA1 Bill Id:AB 670

Author:(Quirk-Silva)

As Amended Ver:September 5, 2025

Majority vote

SUMMARY

Makes changes to the information that local governments must report in their Annual Progress Report (APR) each year regarding demolished and replacement units, and allows local governments to report the number of units in an existing multifamily building that were converted to affordable housing, as specified, for up to 25% of a jurisdiction's regional housing need allocation (RHNA) for lower income units.

Senate Amendments

1. Phase in the bill's requirements beginning with APRs due by April 1, 2027.
2. Include chaptering language.

COMMENTS

Annual Progress Reports: Current law requires all local jurisdictions to provide housing information annually to the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) via the APR, including the following information from the current housing element cycle:

1. The number of housing development applications received, and whether those applications are subject to ministerial or discretionary approval;
2. The number of units included in all development applications;
3. The number of units approved and disapproved;
4. For each income category, the number of net (inclusive of demolished) new units of housing, including both rental housing and for-sale housing, that have been issued a completed entitlement, a building permit, or a certificate of occupancy;
5. A unique site identifier (such as APN) for each entitlement, building permit, or certificate of occupancy; and
6. The overall progress in meeting its share of RHNA.

It is important to note that APR submission has become a lengthy and involved process for city and county planning staff to undertake each year, and changing components can also prompt HCD to need to reconfigure its existing APR data collection and visualization tools to account for different categories of information. Adding new components to APRs should be considered carefully in light of the additional workload that will be placed on local planning staff or consultants as well as HCD.

This bill adds more specific reporting requirements for demolitions, and the author and sponsors point out that the current reporting on demolitions lacks specificity and better reporting would provide a clearer picture of how many housing units are lost to demolition each year. This bill also requires reporting of whether development applications trigger replacement housing or relocation assistance obligations, which are not currently required to be reported. The author and sponsors argue this makes it difficult to know whether local governments and developers are complying with various "No Net Loss" provisions of law that require replacement housing and relocation assistance to be provided to displaced residents, and particularly lower income residents, like those in the HCA of 2019, Density Bonus Law, and housing element law.

This bill would also create a pathway for local governments to receive APR and RHNA credit for the conversion and long-term preservation of existing unsubsidized housing, sometimes referred to as naturally occurring affordable housing (NOAH). According to the California Housing Partnership's Unsubsidized Affordable Homes At-Risk report from April 2024, "Since mid-2020, an estimated 163,094 homes located in 6,691 multifamily properties which were formerly identified as unsubsidized affordable housing are no longer affordable to low-income households" (pg. 2). These are apartments where at least half of the units previously had rents affordable to households at 80% of AMI, and rents have since increased beyond that threshold. The report further estimates an additional 222,190 homes are at high or very high risk of losing their affordability, the vast majority of which are located in Southern California and the Bay Area. If more of these units can be acquired and preserved, this offers an ideal opportunity to create new deed-restricted homes immediately, as these buildings already exist. In contrast, lengthy financing and construction timelines often delay new affordable housing construction projects and cause them to take many years to be completed.

This bill attempts to incentivize local governments to support efforts to convert and preserve these NOAH units with long-term affordability protections. In order to be eligible to receive this credit, the units would have to meet the following criteria:

1. Be in an existing multifamily building not subject to any affordability covenants or restrictions prior to the conversion;
2. Be converted to affordable housing by the imposition of long-term affordability covenants and restrictions enforceable by a public entity that require the units to be available at an affordable rent or cost for at least 55 years;
3. Ensure that a household residing in the property at the time of conversion is not evicted on the basis of income or other eligibility requirements under the new deed restrictions;
4. Ensure any occupants temporarily displaced by rehabilitation or improvements related to the conversion have been provided temporary replacement housing, as necessary;
5. Be in decent, safe, and sanitary condition after conversion, including any rehab work; and
6. Be subject to a governmental monitoring program to ensure the continued affordability and occupancy by lower income households.

If the units meet all of these criteria, the jurisdiction would have the ability to report them in the APR and receive "credit" for up to 25% of their RHNA for LI, VLI, or for the upcoming 7^th housing element cycle, ELI or ALI units. This would be a significant incentive for local governments to identify and support preservation opportunities, as progress toward meeting lower income RHNA is the primary factor determining whether or not the streamlined, ministerial approval process for certain affordable projects established by SB 35 (Wiener, Chapter 366, Statutes of 2017) and updated in SB 423 (Wiener, Chapter 778, Statutes of 2023) applies to a jurisdiction.

To give local governments and HCD sufficient time to incorporate these new requirements and the new preservation option, the bill includes a one-year delay such that the new requirements will become operational beginning with APRs due by April 1, 2027.

According to the Author

"Preserving affordable housing is not just about protecting buildings. It is also about protecting people, families, and communities. While we continue building new housing, we cannot afford to lose the affordable homes we already have. AB 670 ensures that when we invest in keeping housing affordable, we recognize its value in the fight against displacement and homelessness. Building a more affordable California is not just about what we create, it is about what we refuse to lose."

Arguments in Support

According to Enterprise Community Partners, the Public Interest Law Project, the Association of Bay Area Governments, and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the bill's cosponsors, "AB 670 will allow local governments to also report projects that preserve NOAH for the long term by converting existing unsubsidized affordable housing to deed-restricted affordable housing. Jurisdictions will be able to claim credit for up to 25% of their RHNA share in the relevant income category for these types of conversions. To qualify, the preserved units must meet certain requirements to ensure long-term affordability and no displacement of existing tenants. This would help incentivize local governments to support these types of projects, as well as promote a better understanding of where and how these projects are happening. […] The bill will [also] require local governments to report all demolished units on their APRs, regardless of the reason for the demolition. The APR will also include reporting on whether development project applications triggered a replacement housing or relocation assistance obligation and, if so, how replacement housing and relocation assistance requirements were met. This will generate valuable data about housing units being lost to new development and will help ensure that local governments and developers are complying with legal requirements to replace lost units as a condition of developing a new project and mitigate the impacts of displacement on individuals and families whose homes are demolished to make way for new development."

Arguments in Opposition

According to the California Association of Realtors, "[CAR] will oppose AB 670 (Quirk Silva) until it is amended to ensure that the program: 1) does not permit the conversion of entry level market rate homeownership housing units (i.e., single family homes with ADUs, jr. ADUs, duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes) are not converted into deed restricted corporate ownership; and, 2) is consistent with the state's existing deed restricted affordability restrictions, which are consistently defined throughout California statute and regulation to impose occupancy requirements of 55 years for rental housing units."

FISCAL COMMENTS

According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:

1. HCD estimates ongoing costs of approximately $230,000 for 1.0 PY of staff and one-time costs of approximately $100,000 for workload associated with this bill. One-time workload would be required to update the housing element APR form and to make necessary IT systems upgrades, while ongoing staff time would be necessary to collect, validate, and store reported data on housing demolition and replacement activity, and to provide technical assistance to local agencies. Staff notes that staffing and IT costs directly attributable to this bill could be lower than HCD's estimates to the extent that multiple APR-related bills are enacted. (General Fund)
2. Unknown local costs for cities and counties to include additional information in their APRs. These costs are not state-reimbursable because local agencies have general authority to charge and adjust planning and permitting fees to cover their administrative expenses associated with new planning mandates. (local funds)

VOTES:

ASM HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: 10-0-1

YES: Haney, Patterson, Ávila Farías, Caloza, Kalra, Lee, Quirk-Silva, Ta, Wicks, Wilson

ABS, ABST OR NV: Gallagher

ASM LOCAL GOVERNMENT: 10-0-0

YES: Carrillo, Ta, Hoover, Pacheco, Ramos, Ransom, Blanca Rubio, Stefani, Ward, Wilson

ASM APPROPRIATIONS: 12-0-3

YES: Wicks, Arambula, Calderon, Caloza, Elhawary, Fong, Mark González, Hart, Pacheco, Pellerin, Solache, Ta

ABS, ABST OR NV: Sanchez, Dixon, Tangipa

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 74-0-5

YES: Addis, Aguiar-Curry, Ahrens, Alanis, Alvarez, Arambula, Ávila Farías, Bains, Bauer-Kahan, Bennett, Berman, Boerner, Bonta, Bryan, Calderon, Caloza, Carrillo, Castillo, Connolly, Davies, DeMaio, Dixon, Elhawary, Flora, Fong, Gabriel, Gallagher, Garcia, Gipson, Jeff Gonzalez, Mark González, Hadwick, Haney, Harabedian, Hart, Hoover, Irwin, Jackson, Kalra, Krell, Lackey, Lee, Lowenthal, McKinnor, Muratsuchi, Nguyen, Ortega, Pacheco, Papan, Patel, Patterson, Pellerin, Petrie-Norris, Quirk-Silva, Ramos, Ransom, Celeste Rodriguez, Michelle Rodriguez, Rogers, Blanca Rubio, Schiavo, Schultz, Sharp-Collins, Solache, Soria, Stefani, Ta, Valencia, Wallis, Ward, Wicks, Wilson, Zbur, Rivas

ABS, ABST OR NV: Chen, Ellis, Macedo, Sanchez, Tangipa

UPDATED

VERSION: September 5, 2025

CONSULTANT: Nicole Restmeyer / H. & C.D. / (916) 319-2085 FN: 0001755

 THIRD READING  

Bill No: AB 670

Author: Quirk-Silva (D)

Amended: 9/5/25 in Senate

Vote: 21

SENATE HOUSING COMMITTEE: 11-0, 7/1/25

AYES: Wahab, Seyarto, Arreguín, Cabaldon, Caballero, Cortese, Durazo, Gonzalez, Grayson, Ochoa Bogh, Padilla

SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 8/29/25

AYES: Caballero, Seyarto, Cabaldon, Dahle, Grayson, Richardson, Wahab

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 74-0, 6/3/25 - See last page for vote

SUBJECT: Planning and zoning: housing element: converted affordable housing units

SOURCE: Author

DIGEST:

This bill adds a number of requirements, in relation to demolished and replacement housing units, to the annual progress report (APR) that local cities and counties are required to submit to the state Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), and allows a city or county to report specified housing units that were converted to affordable housing for up to 25% of its regional housing need allocation (RHNA) for lower income units.

Senate Floor Amendments of 9/5/25 resolve chaptering conflicts with AB 726 (Avila Farias).

ANALYSIS:

Existing law:

1. Requires every city and county to prepare and adopt a general plan, including a housing element, to guide the future growth of a community. The housing element must identify and analyze existing and projected housing needs, identify adequate sites with appropriate zoning to meet the housing needs of all income segments of the community, and ensure that regulatory systems provide opportunities for, and do not unduly constrain, housing development.
2. Provides that each community’s fair share of housing be determined through the RHNA process, which is composed of three main stages: (a) the Department of Finance and HCD develop regional housing needs estimates; (b) councils of government (COGs) allocate housing within each region based on these estimates (where a COG does not exist, HCD makes the determinations); and (c) cities and counties incorporate their allocations into their housing elements.
3. Requires each city and county to submit an APR to HCD and the Governor’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation by April 1 of each year that includes all of the following:
   1. Progress in meeting its RHNA share.
   2. Local efforts to remove governmental constraints to the maintenance, improvement, and development of housing.
   3. Actions taken by the city or county towards completing programs contained within the housing element and the status of compliance with deadlines in the housing element.
   4. The number of housing development applications received in the prior year, as well as the number of units included in these applications and the number of units approved and disapproved.
   5. The number of units approved and disapproved in the prior year, including the number of units located in an opportunity area, as specified.
   6. The number of units of housing demolished and new units of housing, including both rental housing and for-sale housing, that have been issued a completed entitlement, a building permit, or a certificate of occupancy, by income category.
   7. A list of sites rezoned to accommodate the city’s or county’s RHNA allocation for each income level that could not be accommodated on sites identified in the housing element’s site inventory, and any additional sites that may be necessary to accommodate the city’s or county’s share of regional housing need.
   8. The number of net new units of housing, with a unique site identifier including but not limited to the parcel number, including both rental and for-sale housing, that have been issued a completed entitlement, building permit, or certificate of occupancy in the housing element cycle, and the income category that each unit satisfies.
   9. The number of SB 35 (Wiener, Chapter 366, Statutes of 2017) applications submitted and the total number of developments approved, the number of building permits issued, and the total number of units including both rental and for-sale housing by area median income, constructed through the SB 35 process.
   10. The number of density bonus applications received, and approved, by the city or county.
   11. A list of all historic designations listed in the city or county in the past year and the status of any housing development projects proposed for new historic designations, as specified.

This bill:

1. Requires each local government to include in its APR, beginning in 2027, whether each housing development application received in the prior year is subject to a replacement housing or relocation assistance obligation pursuant to local, state, or federal law.
2. Requires each local government to include in its APR, beginning in 2027, for each entitlement, building permit, or certificate of occupancy, the total number of replacement units by income level required by local, state, or federal law and the number, by income level, of replacement housing units entitled, permitted, or issued a certificate of occupancy.
3. Requires each local government to include in its APR, beginning in 2027, a report on the demolition of housing units for any purpose, including but not limited to all of the following:
   1. The total number of housing units approved for demolition during the year.
   2. The total number of housing units demolished during the year.
   3. For each approved or completed demolition, all of the following:
      1. The location of the approved or completed demolition, using a unique site identifier that includes the assessor’s parcel number, and may also include the street address or other identifiers.
      2. The date the demolition was approved.
      3. The total number of rental and ownership units demolished or approved for demolition.
      4. The number, by income level, of protected units demolished or approved for demolition, as defined by the Housing Crisis Act.
      5. A description of any approved uses on the site.
      6. A description of any relocation assistance provided as required by local, state, or federal law, including but not limited to relocation assistance required for each displaced occupant of any demolished protected unit pursuant to the Housing Crisis Act.
4. Requires each local government to include in its APR, beginning in 2027, a report on replacement housing units required pursuant to local, state, or federal law for approved development projects that are not housing development projects, which shall include, for each applicable development project, all of the following:
   1. The approved or proposed relocation of the replacement units, using a unique site identifier that includes the assessor’s parcel number and may also include the street address or other identifiers.
   2. The entity that is developing the replacement units.
   3. The anticipated completion date for the replacement units.
5. Authorizes a local government to include in the housing element portion of its APR, beginning in 2027, for up to 25% of its RHNA allocation for low, very low, extremely low, or acutely low income households, the number of units in an existing multifamily building that were converted to affordable housing by imposition of long-term affordability covenants and restrictions. The report shall clearly indicate that these units were not newly constructed units and shall provide all relevant project- and unit-level information, as specified. Also provides that:
   1. A unit may be reported as a converted unit only if all of the following apply to the unit:
      1. The unit was not subject to any affordability covenants or restrictions prior to the conversion.
      2. The unit is subject to a long-term recorded regulatory agreement with a public entity that requires the unit to be affordable to, and occupied by, individuals of low-, very low-, extremely low-, or acutely low-income for a term of at least 55 years.
      3. The unit, notwithstanding (ii), is subject to a requirement that a household or member of a household that resides in the property at the time of conversion shall not be evicted, nor shall their tenancy be terminated, on the basis of their income or other eligibility requirements for deed restricted units in the property.
      4. Any occupants temporarily displaced by rehabilitation or improvements related to the conversion have been provided temporary replacement housing.
      5. The unit is in decent, safe, and sanitary condition after conversion, including but not limited to any necessary initial rehabilitation.
      6. The unit is subject to a governmental monitoring program to ensure continued affordability and occupancy by qualifying households throughout the term of the affordability restriction.
   2. Units reported shall be separated into acutely low-, extremely low-, very low-, and low-income unit categories.

6) Resolve chaptering conflicts with AB 130 (Budget Committee, Chapter 22, Statutes of 2025).

Background

Housing Elements and RHNA. Each community’s general plan must include a housing element, which outlines a long-term plan for meeting the community’s existing and projected housing needs. The housing element demonstrates how the community plans to accommodate its “fair share” of its region’s housing needs.

Before each revision, each community is assigned its fair share of the region’s housing need for four separate income categories (very low-, low-, moderate-, and above-moderate income households) through a two-step process known as RHNA. In general, a housing element must identify and analyze existing and projected housing needs, identify adequate sites with appropriate zoning to meet its share of the RHNA, and ensure that regulatory systems provide opportunities for, and do not unduly constrain, housing development.

APRs. APRs are an important tool for both local governments and the state, as both parties can rely on them to track progress in implementing the housing policy in their housing element, as well as to track outcomes. They also help highlight implementation challenges that may require technical assistance or other support from HCD. Additionally, APRs are important for informing statewide housing policy. The APRs provide the data that, aggregated across the state’s 539 cities and counties, convey the amount, type, location, and affordability of housing be produced in California. Existing law provides a list of requirements for what must be reported in the APR.

Comments

Author statement. “Preserving affordable housing is not just about protecting buildings. It is also about protecting people, families, and communities. While we continue building new housing, we cannot afford to lose the affordable homes we already have. AB 670 ensures that when we invest in keeping housing affordable, we recognize its value in the fight against displacement and homelessness. Building a more affordable California is not just about what we create, it is about what we refuse to lose.”

Housing Crisis Act. In response to the housing crisis, the Legislature enacted the Housing Crisis Act of 2019 (HCA) (SB 330, Skinner, Chapter 654, Statutes of 2019) and subsequent amendments to the HCA that, among other things, extended its sunset to January 1, 2030 (SB 8, Skinner, Chapter 161, Statutes of 2021). The HCA prohibits local governments from reducing the capacity for housing development within their jurisdictions and includes demolition protections designed to ensure that there is no net reduction of housing in the state, especially affordable housing. Under the HCA, projects cannot require the demolition of housing unless the project creates at least as many new homes, and cannot demolish affordable housing units protected by law unless the project replaces the unis and allows existing residents to occupy their units until six months after construction starts. The developer must also provide relocation assistance and a right of first refusal to the residents in the new development at affordable rates. AB 1218 (Lowenthal, Chapter 754, Statutes of 2023) expanded housing demolition protections under the HCA, including requiring non-residential development projects to be responsible for relocating displaced tenants and to replace demolished units.

Protecting the state’s housing supply. To help clarify how many units are lost to demolition each year, this bill requires the APR to include a detailed report on demolished housing units, including a breakdown of rental and ownership units demolished or approved for demolition, by income level; a description of any approved uses on the site of the demolished units; the number of housing units approved for demolition and the number actually demolished; and any relocation assistance provided to residents displaced by demolition. The author and sponsors state that providing this much more specific data in the APR would clarify how many units are lost to demolition each year.

In addition, to help clarify the impact of demolished units, this bill requires local governments to report in the APR specified information on whether each development application, entitlement, building permit, or certificate of occupancy triggers replacement housing or relocation assistance requirements under local, state, or federal law. The author and sponsors state that since this information is not currently reported, it is difficult to track whether local governments and developers are complying with requirements to provide replacement housing and relocation assistance to displaced residents, particularly lower-income residents.

Incentivizing affordable housing. This bill seeks to address the loss of affordable properties by authorizing a local government to claim units that were converted from market rate to affordable for up to 25% of its RHNA allocation. Specifically, units in an existing multifamily building that were converted to affordable housing through long-term affordability covenants and restrictions may be counted toward the RHNA allocation for low, very low, extremely low, or acutely low households. Units are subject to specified requirements, including that they must have not have been subject to affordability covenants or restrictions prior to the conversion, must now be under a long-term affordable regulatory agreement, and must include relocation assistance protections.

Senate Appropriations Amendments. Author’s amendments taken in the Senate Appropriations resolve chaptering conflicts with AB 130 (Budget Committee, Chapter 22, Statutes of 2025).

FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: No

According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:

• HCD estimates ongoing costs of approximately $230,000 for 1.0 PY of staff and one-time costs of approximately $100,000 for workload associated with this bill. One-time workload would be required to update the housing element APR form and to make necessary IT systems upgrades, while ongoing staff time would be necessary to collect, validate, and store reported data on housing demolition and replacement activity, and to provide technical assistance to local agencies. Staff notes that staffing and IT costs directly attributable to this bill could be lower than HCD’s estimates to the extent that multiple APR-related bills are enacted. (General Fund)
  
• Unknown local costs for cities and counties to include additional information in their APRs. These costs are not state-reimbursable because local agencies have general authority to charge and adjust planning and permitting fees to cover their administrative expenses associated with new planning mandates. (local funds)

SUPPORT: (Verified 9/5/25)

All Home, a Project of Tides Center

Association of Bay Area Governments

Bay Area Community Land Trust

Beverly-vermont Community Land Trust

California Community Land Trust Network

California Green New Deal Coalition

California Housing Partnership

California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation

Care Community Land Trust

Chinatown Community Development Center

City of Oakland

City of San Rafael

East Bay Housing Organizations

East Palo Alto Community Alliance Neighborhood Development Organization

El Sereno Community Land Trust

Enterprise Community Partners, INC.

Hope Housing Community Land Trust

Housing California

Inland Equity Community Land Trusts

Legal Aid of Marin

Lisc Bay Area

Mission Economic Development Agency

Mt Tam Community Land Trust

Non-profit Housing Association of Northern California

Oakland Community Land Trust

Our Future Los Angeles

Public Counsel

Public Interest Law Project

Race & Equity in All Planning Coalition (REP-SF)

Sacramento Housing Alliance

San Francisco Board of Supervisors

San Francisco Community Land Trust

San Gabriel Valley Community Land Trust

Southern California Association of Nonprofit Housing

Sv@home

Tenants Together

Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation

Trust South LA

Two Valleys Community Land Trust

United Way Bay Area

United Way of Greater Los Angeles

Urban Habitat

OPPOSITION: (Verified 9/5/25)

None received.

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 74-0, 6/3/25

AYES: Addis, Aguiar-Curry, Ahrens, Alanis, Alvarez, Arambula, Ávila Farías, Bains, Bauer-Kahan, Bennett, Berman, Boerner, Bonta, Bryan, Calderon, Caloza, Carrillo, Castillo, Connolly, Davies, DeMaio, Dixon, Elhawary, Flora, Fong, Gabriel, Gallagher, Garcia, Gipson, Jeff Gonzalez, Mark González, Hadwick, Haney, Harabedian, Hart, Hoover, Irwin, Jackson, Kalra, Krell, Lackey, Lee, Lowenthal, McKinnor, Muratsuchi, Nguyen, Ortega, Pacheco, Papan, Patel, Patterson, Pellerin, Petrie-Norris, Quirk-Silva, Ramos, Ransom, Celeste Rodriguez, Michelle Rodriguez, Rogers, Blanca Rubio, Schiavo, Schultz, Sharp-Collins, Solache, Soria, Stefani, Ta, Valencia, Wallis, Ward, Wicks, Wilson, Zbur, Rivas

NO VOTE RECORDED: Chen, Ellis, Macedo, Sanchez, Tangipa

Prepared by: Alison Hughes / HOUSING / (916) 651-4124

9/8/25 21:18:48

**** END ****

 THIRD READING  

Bill No: AB 670

Author: Quirk-Silva (D)

Amended: 8/29/25 in Senate

Vote: 21

SENATE HOUSING COMMITTEE: 11-0, 7/1/25

AYES: Wahab, Seyarto, Arreguín, Cabaldon, Caballero, Cortese, Durazo, Gonzalez, Grayson, Ochoa Bogh, Padilla

SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 8/29/25

AYES: Caballero, Seyarto, Cabaldon, Dahle, Grayson, Richardson, Wahab

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 74-0, 6/3/25 - See last page for vote

SUBJECT: Planning and zoning: housing element: converted affordable housing units

SOURCE: Author

DIGEST:

This bill adds a number of requirements, in relation to demolished and replacement housing units, to the annual progress report (APR) that local cities and counties are required to submit to the state Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), and allows a city or county to report specified housing units that were converted to affordable housing for up to 25% of its regional housing need allocation (RHNA) for lower income units.

ANALYSIS:

Existing law:

1. Requires every city and county to prepare and adopt a general plan, including a housing element, to guide the future growth of a community. The housing element must identify and analyze existing and projected housing needs, identify adequate sites with appropriate zoning to meet the housing needs of all income segments of the community, and ensure that regulatory systems provide opportunities for, and do not unduly constrain, housing development.
2. Provides that each community’s fair share of housing be determined through the regional housing needs allocation (RHNA) process, which is composed of three main stages: (a) the Department of Finance and HCD develop regional housing needs estimates; (b) councils of government (COGs) allocate housing within each region based on these estimates (where a COG does not exist, HCD makes the determinations); and (c) cities and counties incorporate their allocations into their housing elements.
3. Requires each city and county to submit an Annual Progress Report (APR) to HCD and the Governor’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation by April 1 of each year that includes all of the following:
   1. Progress in meeting its RHNA share.
   2. Local efforts to remove governmental constraints to the maintenance, improvement, and development of housing.
   3. Actions taken by the city or county towards completing programs contained within the housing element and the status of compliance with deadlines in the housing element.
   4. The number of housing development applications received in the prior year, as well as the number of units included in these applications and the number of units approved and disapproved.
   5. The number of units approved and disapproved in the prior year, including the number of units located in an opportunity area, as specified.
   6. The number of units of housing demolished and new units of housing, including both rental housing and for-sale housing, that have been issued a completed entitlement, a building permit, or a certificate of occupancy, by income category.
   7. A list of sites rezoned to accommodate the city’s or county’s RHNA allocation for each income level that could not be accommodated on sites identified in the housing element’s site inventory, and any additional sites that may be necessary to accommodate the city’s or county’s share of regional housing need.
   8. The number of net new units of housing, with a unique site identifier including but not limited to the parcel number, including both rental and for-sale housing, that have been issued a completed entitlement, building permit, or certificate of occupancy in the housing element cycle, and the income category that each unit satisfies.
   9. The number of SB 35 (Wiener, Chapter 366, Statutes of 2017) applications submitted and the total number of developments approved, the number of building permits issued, and the total number of units including both rental and for-sale housing by area median income, constructed through the SB 35 process.
   10. The number of density bonus applications received, and approved, by the city or county.
   11. A list of all historic designations listed in the city or county in the past year and the status of any housing development projects proposed for new historic designations, as specified.

This bill:

1. Requires each local government to include in its APR, beginning in 2027, whether each housing development application received in the prior year is subject to a replacement housing or relocation assistance obligation pursuant to local, state, or federal law.
2. Requires each local government to include in its APR, beginning in 2027, for each entitlement, building permit, or certificate of occupancy, the total number of replacement units by income level required by local, state, or federal law and the number, by income level, of replacement housing units entitled, permitted, or issued a certificate of occupancy.
3. Requires each local government to include in its APR, beginning in 2027, a report on the demolition of housing units for any purpose, including but not limited to all of the following:
   1. The total number of housing units approved for demolition during the year.
   2. The total number of housing units demolished during the year.
   3. For each approved or completed demolition, all of the following:
      1. The location of the approved or completed demolition, using a unique site identifier that includes the assessor’s parcel number, and may also include the street address or other identifiers.
      2. The date the demolition was approved.
      3. The total number of rental and ownership units demolished or approved for demolition.
      4. The number, by income level, of protected units demolished or approved for demolition, as defined by the Housing Crisis Act.
      5. A description of any approved uses on the site.
      6. A description of any relocation assistance provided as required by local, state, or federal law, including but not limited to relocation assistance required for each displaced occupant of any demolished protected unit pursuant to the Housing Crisis Act.
4. Requires each local government to include in its APR, beginning in 2027, a report on replacement housing units required pursuant to local, state, or federal law for approved development projects that are not housing development projects, which shall include, for each applicable development project, all of the following:
   1. The approved or proposed relocation of the replacement units, using a unique site identifier that includes the assessor’s parcel number and may also include the street address or other identifiers.
   2. The entity that is developing the replacement units.
   3. The anticipated completion date for the replacement units.
5. Authorizes a local government to include in the housing element portion of its APR, beginning in 2027, for up to 25% of its RHNA allocation for low, very low, extremely low, or acutely low income households, the number of units in an existing multifamily building that were converted to affordable housing by imposition of long-term affordability covenants and restrictions. The report shall clearly indicate that these units were not newly constructed units and shall provide all relevant project- and unit-level information, as specified. Also provides that:
   1. A unit may be reported as a converted unit only if all of the following apply to the unit:
      1. The unit was not subject to any affordability covenants or restrictions prior to the conversion.
      2. The unit is subject to a long-term recorded regulatory agreement with a public entity that requires the unit to be affordable to, and occupied by, individuals of low-, very low-, extremely low-, or acutely low-income for a term of at least 55 years.
      3. The unit, notwithstanding (ii), is subject to a requirement that a household or member of a household that resides in the property at the time of conversion shall not be evicted, nor shall their tenancy be terminated, on the basis of their income or other eligibility requirements for deed restricted units in the property.
      4. Any occupants temporarily displaced by rehabilitation or improvements related to the conversion have been provided temporary replacement housing.
      5. The unit is in decent, safe, and sanitary condition after conversion, including but not limited to any necessary initial rehabilitation.
      6. The unit is subject to a governmental monitoring program to ensure continued affordability and occupancy by qualifying households throughout the term of the affordability restriction.
   2. Units reported shall be separated into acutely low-, extremely low-, very low-, and low-income unit categories.

6) Resolve chaptering conflicts with AB 130 (Budget Committee, Chapter 22, Statutes of 2025).

Background

Housing Elements and RHNA. Each community’s general plan must include a housing element, which outlines a long-term plan for meeting the community’s existing and projected housing needs. The housing element demonstrates how the community plans to accommodate its “fair share” of its region’s housing needs.

Before each revision, each community is assigned its fair share of the region’s housing need for four separate income categories (very low-, low-, moderate-, and above-moderate income households) through a two-step process known as RHNA. In general, a housing element must identify and analyze existing and projected housing needs, identify adequate sites with appropriate zoning to meet its share of the RHNA, and ensure that regulatory systems provide opportunities for, and do not unduly constrain, housing development.

APRs. APRs are an important tool for both local governments and the state, as both parties can rely on them to track progress in implementing the housing policy in their housing element, as well as to track outcomes. They also help highlight implementation challenges that may require technical assistance or other support from HCD. Additionally, APRs are important for informing statewide housing policy. The APRs provide the data that, aggregated across the state’s 539 cities and counties, convey the amount, type, location, and affordability of housing be produced in California. Existing law provides a list of requirements for what must be reported in the APR.

Comments

Author statement. “Preserving affordable housing is not just about protecting buildings. It is also about protecting people, families, and communities. While we continue building new housing, we cannot afford to lose the affordable homes we already have. AB 670 ensures that when we invest in keeping housing affordable, we recognize its value in the fight against displacement and homelessness. Building a more affordable California is not just about what we create, it is about what we refuse to lose.”

Housing Crisis Act. In response to the housing crisis, the Legislature enacted the Housing Crisis Act of 2019 (HCA) (SB 330, Skinner, Chapter 654, Statutes of 2019) and subsequent amendments to the HCA that, among other things, extended its sunset to January 1, 2030 (SB 8, Skinner, Chapter 161, Statutes of 2021). The HCA prohibits local governments from reducing the capacity for housing development within their jurisdictions and includes demolition protections designed to ensure that there is no net reduction of housing in the state, especially affordable housing. Under the HCA, projects cannot require the demolition of housing unless the project creates at least as many new homes, and cannot demolish affordable housing units protected by law unless the project replaces the unis and allows existing residents to occupy their units until six months after construction starts. The developer must also provide relocation assistance and a right of first refusal to the residents in the new development at affordable rates. AB 1218 (Lowenthal, Chapter 754, Statutes of 2023) expanded housing demolition protections under the HCA, including requiring non-residential development projects to be responsible for relocating displaced tenants and to replace demolished units.

Protecting the state’s housing supply. To help clarify how many units are lost to demolition each year, this bill requires the APR to include a detailed report on demolished housing units, including a breakdown of rental and ownership units demolished or approved for demolition, by income level; a description of any approved uses on the site of the demolished units; the number of housing units approved for demolition and the number actually demolished; and any relocation assistance provided to residents displaced by demolition. The author and sponsors state that providing this much more specific data in the APR would clarify how many units are lost to demolition each year.

In addition, to help clarify the impact of demolished units, this bill requires local governments to report in the APR specified information on whether each development application, entitlement, building permit, or certificate of occupancy triggers replacement housing or relocation assistance requirements under local, state, or federal law. The author and sponsors state that since this information is not currently reported, it is difficult to track whether local governments and developers are complying with requirements to provide replacement housing and relocation assistance to displaced residents, particularly lower-income residents.

Incentivizing affordable housing. This bill seeks to address the loss of affordable properties by authorizing a local government to claim units that were converted from market rate to affordable for up to 25% of its RHNA allocation. Specifically, units in an existing multifamily building that were converted to affordable housing through long-term affordability covenants and restrictions may be counted toward the RHNA allocation for low, very low, extremely low, or acutely low households. Units are subject to specified requirements, including that they must have not have been subject to affordability covenants or restrictions prior to the conversion, must now be under a long-term affordable regulatory agreement, and must include relocation assistance protections.

Senate Appropriations Amendments. Author’s amendments taken in the Senate Appropriations resolve chaptering conflicts with AB 130 (Budget Committee, Chapter 22, Statutes of 2025).

FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: No

According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:

• HCD estimates ongoing costs of approximately $230,000 for 1.0 PY of staff and one-time costs of approximately $100,000 for workload associated with this bill. One-time workload would be required to update the housing element APR form and to make necessary IT systems upgrades, while ongoing staff time would be necessary to collect, validate, and store reported data on housing demolition and replacement activity, and to provide technical assistance to local agencies. Staff notes that staffing and IT costs directly attributable to this bill could be lower than HCD’s estimates to the extent that multiple APR-related bills are enacted. (General Fund)
  
• Unknown local costs for cities and counties to include additional information in their APRs. These costs are not state-reimbursable because local agencies have general authority to charge and adjust planning and permitting fees to cover their administrative expenses associated with new planning mandates. (local funds)

SUPPORT: (Verified 8/29/25)

All Home, a Project of Tides Center

Association of Bay Area Governments

Bay Area Community Land Trust

Beverly-vermont Community Land Trust

California Community Land Trust Network

California Green New Deal Coalition

California Housing Partnership

California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation

Care Community Land Trust

Chinatown Community Development Center

City of Oakland

City of San Rafael

East Bay Housing Organizations

East Palo Alto Community Alliance Neighborhood Development Organization

El Sereno Community Land Trust

Enterprise Community Partners, INC.

Hope Housing Community Land Trust

Housing California

Inland Equity Community Land Trusts

Legal Aid of Marin

Lisc Bay Area

Mission Economic Development Agency

Mt Tam Community Land Trust

Non-profit Housing Association of Northern California

Oakland Community Land Trust

Our Future Los Angeles

Public Counsel

Public Interest Law Project

Race & Equity in All Planning Coalition (REP-SF)

Sacramento Housing Alliance

San Francisco Board of Supervisors

San Francisco Community Land Trust

San Gabriel Valley Community Land Trust

Southern California Association of Nonprofit Housing

Sv@home

Tenants Together

Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation

Trust South LA

Two Valleys Community Land Trust

United Way Bay Area

United Way of Greater Los Angeles

Urban Habitat

OPPOSITION: (Verified 8/29/25)

None received.

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 74-0, 6/3/25

AYES: Addis, Aguiar-Curry, Ahrens, Alanis, Alvarez, Arambula, Ávila Farías, Bains, Bauer-Kahan, Bennett, Berman, Boerner, Bonta, Bryan, Calderon, Caloza, Carrillo, Castillo, Connolly, Davies, DeMaio, Dixon, Elhawary, Flora, Fong, Gabriel, Gallagher, Garcia, Gipson, Jeff Gonzalez, Mark González, Hadwick, Haney, Harabedian, Hart, Hoover, Irwin, Jackson, Kalra, Krell, Lackey, Lee, Lowenthal, McKinnor, Muratsuchi, Nguyen, Ortega, Pacheco, Papan, Patel, Patterson, Pellerin, Petrie-Norris, Quirk-Silva, Ramos, Ransom, Celeste Rodriguez, Michelle Rodriguez, Rogers, Blanca Rubio, Schiavo, Schultz, Sharp-Collins, Solache, Soria, Stefani, Ta, Valencia, Wallis, Ward, Wicks, Wilson, Zbur, Rivas

NO VOTE RECORDED: Chen, Ellis, Macedo, Sanchez, Tangipa

Prepared by: Alison Hughes / HOUSING / (916) 651-4124

9/2/25 18:04:42

**** END ****

SENATE COMMITTEE ON

Senator Anna Caballero, Chair

2025 - 2026 Regular Session

AB 670 (Quirk-Silva) - Planning and zoning: housing element: converted affordable housing units

Bill Summary:

AB 670 would require local agencies to include additional information regarding the demolition and replacement of housing units, as specified, in their annual progress reports (APRs) submitted to the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), beginning with the report due on April 1, 2027. The bill would also authorize a local agency to count the number of unrestricted multifamily housing units that were converted to long-term, deed-restricted affordable housing units towards meeting the jurisdiction’s share of the regional housing need, as reported in its APR, beginning with the report due on April 1, 2027.

*********** ANALYSIS ADDENDUM – SUSPENSE FILE ***********

The following information is revised to reflect amendments

adopted by the committee on August 29, 2025

Fiscal Impact:

• HCD estimates ongoing costs of approximately $230,000 for 1.0 PY of staff and one-time costs of approximately $100,000 for workload associated with this bill. One-time workload would be required to update the housing element APR form and to make necessary IT systems upgrades, while ongoing staff time would be necessary to collect, validate, and store reported data on housing demolition and replacement activity, and to provide technical assistance to local agencies. Staff notes that staffing and IT costs directly attributable to this bill could be lower than HCD’s estimates to the extent that multiple APR-related bills are enacted. (General Fund)
  
• Unknown local costs for cities and counties to include additional information in their APRs. These costs are not state-reimbursable because local agencies have general authority to charge and adjust planning and permitting fees to cover their administrative expenses associated with new planning mandates. (local funds)

Author Amendments:

Make technical changes necessary to avoid chaptering out provisions of AB 130 (Budget Committee), Chap. 22/2025, the recently enacted housing budget trailer bill.

-- END --

SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

Senator Anna Caballero, Chair

2025 - 2026 Regular Session

AB 670 (Quirk-Silva) - Planning and zoning: housing element: converted affordable housing units

Bill Summary:

AB 670 would require local agencies to include additional information regarding the demolition and replacement of housing units, as specified, in their annual progress reports (APRs) submitted to the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), beginning with the report due on April 1, 2027. The bill would also authorize a local agency to count the number of unrestricted multifamily housing units that were converted to long-term, deed-restricted affordable housing units towards meeting the jurisdiction’s share of the regional housing need, as reported in its APR, beginning with the report due on April 1, 2027.

Fiscal Impact:

• HCD estimates ongoing costs of approximately $230,000 1.0 PY of staff and one-time costs of approximately $100,000 for workload associated with this bill. One-time workload would be required to update the housing element APR form and to update IT systems, while ongoing staff time would be necessary to collect, validate, and store reported data on housing demolition and replacement activity, and to provide technical assistance to local agencies. Staff notes that costs directly attributable to this bill could be lower than HCD’s estimates to the extent that multiple APR-related bills are enacted. See Staff Comments. (General Fund)
  
• Unknown local costs for cities and counties to include additional information in their APRs. These costs are not state-reimbursable because local agencies have general authority to charge and adjust planning and permitting fees to cover their administrative expenses associated with new planning mandates. (local funds)

Background:

Existing law requires cities and counties to prepare a general plan comprised of seven mandatory elements, including a housing element that includes an identification of existing and projected housing needs. The housing element must include an inventory of land suitable for residential development, which is used to identify sites that can be developed for housing within the planning period that is sufficient to meet the regional housing needs for all income levels. Housing elements must be updated every eight years in urban areas, and every five years in more rural areas.

Existing law requires each city and county to submit an APR to HCD and the Governor’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation (LCI) by April 1 of each year that includes specified information relating to the status and progress of implementing the general plan, including steps taken to meet the jurisdiction’s share of regional housing needs pursuant to its housing element. Among this information, cities and counties must report zoning and rezoning information, specified information regarding density bonuses granted, the number of housing development applications received in the prior year and the number of proposed units included in those developments, the number of units approved and disapproved in the prior year, the number of housing units that were demolished in the prior year, and the net number of new housing units issued a completed entitlement, building permit, or certificate of occupancy in the housing element cycle, and the income category of each unit.

Proposed Law:

AB 670 would require local agencies to include additional information regarding the demolition and replacement of housing units in their APRs, and authorize local agencies to count the number of existing multifamily housing units converted to long-term, deed-restricted affordable housing towards meeting their share of the regional housing need. Specifically, this bill would:

• Require a local agency to include the following information in its APR, beginning with the report due to HCD and LCI on April 1, 2027:
  • Whether each housing development application received in the prior year is subject to a replacement housing or relocation assistance obligation pursuant to local, state, or federal law.
  • The total number of replacement units by income level required by local, state, or federal law, and the number, by income level, of replacement housing units entitled, permitted, or issued a certificate of occupancy.
  • A report on the demolition of housing units for any purpose that includes the total number of housing units approved for demolition, the number of units demolished, and the following information for each approved or completed demolition:
    • The location of the approved or completed demolition, as specified.
    • The date the demolition was approved.
    • The total number of rental and ownership units demolished or approved for demolition.
    • The number of protected units, by income-level, demolished or approved for demolition.
    • A description of any relocation assistance provided to displaced occupants pursuant to local, state, or federal law, as specified.
  • A report on replacement housing units required pursuant to local, state, or federal law for approved development projects that are not housing development projects, which includes the following for each applicable project:
    • The approved or proposed relocation of the replacement units, using a unique site identifier, as specified.
    • The entity that is developing the replacement units.
    • The anticipated completion date for the replacement units.
• Authorize a local agency to include in the housing element portion of its APR, beginning with the report due on April 1, 2027, for up to 25% of its regional housing need allocation (RHNA) for low, very low, extremely low, or acutely low income households, the number of units in an existing multifamily building that were converted to affordable housing by imposition of long-term affordability covenants and restrictions. The report must clearly indicate that the units were not newly constructed, and include all relevant project- and unit-level information, as specified.
• Specify the eligibility criteria that must be satisfied in order to be reported as a converted unit that may be counted towards a local agency’s RHNA allocation.
• Require the converted units to be reported separately by income level, as specified.

Related Legislation:

AB 726 (Avila Farias), which is currently pending in the Senate Housing Committee, would authorize cities and counties to include the number of units of deed-restricted affordable housing that have been substantially rehabilitated in their APRs.

AB 1131 (Ta), which is currently pending in this Committee, would authorize cities and counties to include the number of units approved for congregate housing for the elderly for up to 15% of their RHNA for any income category in their APRs.

Staff Comments:

HCD estimates that it would need 1.0 PY of new staff, at a cost of approximately $230,000 annually, to collect, validate, and store detailed data on housing demolition and replacement activity reported by local agencies in their APRs, and to provide technical assistance to local governments. HCD also estimates one-time costs of approximately $100,000 to make changes to the APR form and make IT changes to the HCD Connect database to accommodate new data elements. HCD notes that there are multiple bills pending in the Legislature that would revise the information that local agencies incorporate into their APRs, including this bill, as well as AB 726 (Avila Farias) and AB 1131 (Ta), all of which would create ongoing staff workload for HCD’s Data and Innovation Unit for new data collection and coordination with local agencies, as well as one-time costs to make changes to the APR form and IT systems. HCD indicates that the staff position and one-time costs noted above should be sufficient to accommodate the workload associated with all of those bills. As such, staff notes that the costs directly attributable to this bill would likely only represent a portion of the one-time and ongoing costs reported by the department if all of the APR-related bills are enacted.

Although Legislative Counsel did not key this bill as a state mandate, it would impose new costs on cities and counties by requiring the inclusion of additional information in their APRs regarding units of new housing, units demolished, and replacement housing units, as specified, beginning with the report due by April 1, 2027. Staff notes, however, that any local costs mandated by this bill would not be subject to state reimbursement because local agencies have the authority to charge and adjust planning and permitting fees as necessary to cover administrative costs. Existing law authorizes planning and zoning fees to “include the costs reasonably necessary to prepare and revise the plans and policies that a local agency is required to adopt before it can make any necessary findings and determinations.” Case law and previous decisions by the Commission on State Mandates support the position that local governments’ planning costs are not reimbursable when the state imposes new planning mandates.

Recommended Amendments:

Staff notes that AB 130 (Budget Committee), Chap. 22/2025, was recently enacted as a Housing budget trailer bill, and included a provision that amended Government Code 65400, which this bill would also amend. This bill should be amended to avoid chaptering out the changes enacted by AB 130.

-- END --

SENATE COMMITTEE ON HOUSING

Senator Aisha Wahab, Chair

2025 - 2026 Regular

Bill No: AB 670 Hearing Date: 7/1/25

SUBJECT: Planning and zoning: housing element: converted affordable housing units

DIGEST: This bill adds a number of requirements, in relation to demolished and replacement housing units, to the annual progress report (APR) that local cities and counties are required to submit to the state Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), and allows a city or county to report specified housing units that were converted to affordable housing for up to 25% of its regional housing need allocation (RHNA) for lower income units.

ANALYSIS:

Existing law relating to housing elements:

1. Requires every city and county to prepare and adopt a general plan, including a housing element, to guide the future growth of a community. The housing element must identify and analyze existing and projected housing needs, identify adequate sites with appropriate zoning to meet the housing needs of all income segments of the community, and ensure that regulatory systems provide opportunities for, and do not unduly constrain, housing development.
2. Provides that each community’s fair share of housing be determined through the regional housing needs allocation (RHNA) process, which is composed of three main stages: (a) the Department of Finance and Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) develop regional housing needs estimates; (b) councils of government (COGs) allocate housing within each region based on these estimates (where a COG does not exist, HCD makes the determinations); and (c) cities and counties incorporate their allocations into their housing elements.

Existing law relating to Annual Progress Reports (APRs):

1. Requires each city and county to submit an APR to HCD and the Governor’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation by April 1 of each year that includes all of the following:
   1. Progress in meeting its RHNA share.
   2. Local efforts to remove governmental constraints to the maintenance, improvement, and development of housing.
   3. Actions taken by the city or county towards completing programs contained within the housing element and the status of compliance with deadlines in the housing element.
   4. The number of housing development applications received in the prior year, as well as the number of units included in these applications and the number of units approved and disapproved.
   5. The number of units approved and disapproved in the prior year, including the number of units located in an opportunity area, as specified.
   6. The number of units of housing demolished and new units of housing, including both rental housing and for-sale housing, that have been issued a completed entitlement, a building permit, or a certificate of occupancy, by income category.
   7. A list of sites rezoned to accommodate the city’s or county’s RHNA allocation for each income level that could not be accommodated on sites identified in the housing element’s site inventory, and any additional sites that may be necessary to accommodate the city’s or county’s share of regional housing need.
   8. The number of net new units of housing, with a unique site identifier including but not limited to the parcel number, including both rental and for-sale housing, that have been issued a completed entitlement, building permit, or certificate of occupancy in the housing element cycle, and the income category that each unit satisfies.
   9. The number of SB 35 (Wiener, Chapter 366, Statutes of 2017) applications submitted and the total number of developments approved, the number of building permits issued, and the total number of units including both rental and for-sale housing by area median income, constructed through the SB 35 process.
   10. The number of density bonus applications received, and approved, by the city or county.
   11. A list of all historic designations listed in the city or county in the past year and the status of any housing development projects proposed for new historic designations, as specified.

This bill:

1. Requires each local government to include in its APR, beginning in 2027, whether each housing development application received in the prior year is subject to a replacement housing or relocation assistance obligation pursuant to local, state, or federal law.
2. Requires each local government to include in its APR, beginning in 2027, for each entitlement, building permit, or certificate of occupancy, the total number of replacement units by income level required by local, state, or federal law and the number, by income level, of replacement housing units entitled, permitted, or issued a certificate of occupancy.
3. Requires each local government to include in its APR, beginning in 2027, a report on the demolition of housing units for any purpose, including but not limited to all of the following:
   1. The total number of housing units approved for demolition during the year.
   2. The total number of housing units demolished during the year.
   3. For each approved or completed demolition, all of the following:
      1. The location of the approved or completed demolition, using a unique site identifier that includes the assessor’s parcel number, and may also include the street address or other identifiers.
      2. The date the demolition was approved.
      3. The total number of rental and ownership units demolished or approved for demolition.
      4. The number, by income level, of protected units demolished or approved for demolition, as defined by the Housing Crisis Act.
      5. A description of any approved uses on the site.
      6. A description of any relocation assistance provided as required by local, state, or federal law, including but not limited to relocation assistance required for each displaced occupant of any demolished protected unit pursuant to the Housing Crisis Act.
4. Requires each local government to include in its APR, beginning in 2027, a report on replacement housing units required pursuant to local, state, or federal law for approved development projects that are not housing development projects, which shall include, for each applicable development project, all of the following:
   1. The approved or proposed relocation of the replacement units, using a unique site identifier that includes the assessor’s parcel number and may also include the street address or other identifiers.
   2. The entity that is developing the replacement units.
   3. The anticipated completion date for the replacement units.
5. Authorizes a local government to include in the housing element portion of its APR, beginning in 2027, for up to 25% of its RHNA allocation for low, very low, extremely low, or acutely low income households, the number of units in an existing multifamily building that were converted to affordable housing by imposition of long-term affordability covenants and restrictions. The report shall clearly indicate that these units were not newly constructed units and shall provide all relevant project- and unit-level information, as specified. Also provides that:
   1. A unit may be reported as a converted unit only if all of the following apply to the unit:
      1. The unit was not subject to any affordability covenants or restrictions prior to the conversion.
      2. The unit is subject to a long-term recorded regulatory agreement with a public entity that requires the unit to be affordable to, and occupied by, individuals of low-, very low-, extremely low-, or acutely low-income for a term of at least 55 years.
      3. The unit, notwithstanding (ii), is subject to a requirement that a household or member of a household that resides in the property at the time of conversion shall not be evicted, nor shall their tenancy be terminated, on the basis of their income or other eligibility requirements for deed restricted units in the property.
      4. Any occupants temporarily displaced by rehabilitation or improvements related to the conversion have been provided temporary replacement housing.
      5. The unit is in decent, safe, and sanitary condition after conversion, including but not limited to any necessary initial rehabilitation.
      6. The unit is subject to a governmental monitoring program to ensure continued affordability and occupancy by qualifying households throughout the term of the affordability restriction.
   2. Units reported shall be separated into acutely low-, extremely low-, very low-, and low-income unit categories.

Background

Housing Elements and RHNA. Each community’s general plan must include a housing element, which outlines a long-term plan for meeting the community’s existing and projected housing needs. The housing element demonstrates how the community plans to accommodate its “fair share” of its region’s housing needs. Following a staggered schedule, cities and counties located within the territory of a metropolitan planning organization (MPO) must revise their housing elements every eight years, and cities and counties in rural non-MPO regions must revise their housing elements every five years. These five- and eight-year periods are known as the housing element planning period.

Before each revision, each community is assigned its fair share of the region’s housing need for four separate income categories (very low-, low-, moderate-, and above-moderate income households) through a two-step process known as RHNA. In the first step, HCD determines the aggregate housing need for the region during the planning period the housing element will cover. In the second step, the council of governments (COG) for the region allocates the regional housing need to each city and county within the region.

In general, a housing element must identify and analyze existing and projected housing needs, identify adequate sites with appropriate zoning to meet its share of the RHNA, and ensure that regulatory systems provide opportunities for, and do not unduly constrain, housing development.

APRs. APRs are an important tool for both local governments and the state, as both parties can rely on them to track progress in implementing the housing policy in their housing element, as well as to track outcomes. They also help highlight implementation challenges that may require technical assistance or other support from HCD. Additionally, APRs are important for informing statewide housing policy. The APRs provide the data that, aggregated across the state’s 539 cities and counties, convey the amount, type, location, and affordability of housing be produced in California. Existing law provides a list of requirements for what must be reported in the APR.

Comments

1. Author statement. “Preserving affordable housing is not just about protecting buildings. It is also about protecting people, families, and communities. While we continue building new housing, we cannot afford to lose the affordable homes we already have. AB 670 ensures that when we invest in keeping housing affordable, we recognize its value in the fight against displacement and homelessness. Building a more affordable California is not just about what we create, it is about what we refuse to lose.”
2. Housing element and No Net Loss laws. As discussed above, housing element law requires local governments to plan to accommodate their share of the regional housing need (RHNA). Throughout the housing element planning period, as housing gets developed, local governments must ensure that there is still capacity to accommodate their RHNA on sites that have not yet been developed. This requirement is referred to as the “No Net Loss” law. In housing element law, if the city or county failed to zone for its full share of regional housing in the prior planning period, then within the first year of the planning period of the new housing element, the local government must rezone adequate sites to accommodate the amount it failed to zone for in the prior planning period. Recent legislation (AB 2339, Bloom, Chapter 654, Statutes of 2022) aligned the No Net Loss law with housing element law by requiring local governments to account for the carryover portion when calculating both the amount of housing they must plan for and the amount of capacity that must be available at any given time.
3. Housing Crisis Act. In response to the housing crisis, the Legislature enacted the Housing Crisis Act of 2019 (HCA) (SB 330, Skinner, Chapter 654, Statutes of 2019) and subsequent amendments to the HCA that, among other things, extended its sunset to January 1, 2030 (SB 8, Skinner, Chapter 161, Statutes of 2021). The HCA prohibits local governments from reducing the capacity for housing development within their jurisdictions and includes demolition protections designed to ensure that there is no net reduction of housing in the state, especially affordable housing. Under the HCA, projects cannot require the demolition of housing unless the project creates at least as many new homes, and cannot demolish affordable housing units protected by law unless the project replaces the unis and allows existing residents to occupy their units until six months after construction starts. The developer must also provide relocation assistance and a right of first refusal to the residents in the new development at affordable rates. AB 1218 (Lowenthal, Chapter 754, Statutes of 2023) expanded housing demolition protections under the HCA, including requiring non-residential development projects to be responsible for relocating displaced tenants and to replace demolished units.
4. Density bonus law (DBL). Given California’s high land and construction costs for housing, it is extremely difficult for the private market to provide housing units that are affordable to low- and even moderate-income households. Public subsidy is often required to fill the financial gap on affordable units. DBL allows public entities to reduce or even eliminate subsidies for a particular project by allowing a developer to include more total units in a project than would otherwise be allowed by the local zoning ordinance, in exchange for affordable units. Allowing more total units permits the developer to spread the cost of the affordable units more broadly over the market-rate units. The idea of DBL is to cover at least some of the financing gap of affordable housing with regulatory incentives, rather than additional subsidy. The provisions in the HCA addressing demolition and replacement of housing units were largely borrowed from DBL.
5. Protecting the state’s housing supply. As discussed above, the state has taken a multipronged approach to ensuring that there is no net reduction to the state’s housing supply, especially to affordable housing stock. In addition to the No Net Loss Law, HCA, and DBL protections, one of the factors a COG must consider when developing its RHNA allocation methodology is the loss of units in assisted housing developments that converted to market rate through mortgage prepayment, subsidy contract expirations, or termination of use restrictions. In addition, a locality that met its lower-income RHNA allocation in the prior planning period may meet up to 25% of its obligation in the next planning period through “committed assistance” – essentially, a legally enforceable agreement to rehabilitate and preserve existing units. Finally, each local government must include in its APR the number of housing units that have been demolished.

To help clarify how many units are lost to demolition each year, this bill requires the APR to include a detailed report on demolished housing units, including a breakdown of rental and ownership units demolished or approved for demolition, by income level; a description of any approved uses on the site of the demolished units; the number of housing units approved for demolition and the number actually demolished; and any relocation assistance provided to residents displaced by demolition. The author and sponsors state that providing this much more specific data in the APR would clarify how many units are lost to demolition each year.

In addition, to help clarify the impact of demolished units, this bill requires local governments to report in the APR specified information on whether each development application, entitlement, building permit, or certificate of occupancy triggers replacement housing or relocation assistance requirements under local, state, or federal law. The author and sponsors state that since this information is not currently reported, it is difficult to track whether local governments and developers are complying with the No Net Loss law’s requirements to provide replacement housing and relocation assistance to displaced residents, particularly lower income residents, like those in HCA, DBL, and housing element law.

1. Preserving affordable units. According to the California Housing Partnership Corporation (CHPC), the state lost 18,056 affordable units between 2000 and 2024 due to expiring restrictions on government-assisted multifamily developments and owner decisions to opt out, sell, or allow their properties to convert to market rate. An additional 6,800 homes may be lost as soon as next year, and 47,869 homes are at risk of losing affordability in the next 10 years.^[1] CHP further notes that an estimated 189,051 “formerly unsubsidized affordable units” are no longer affordable to low-income households. An unsubsidized affordable property is defined as a multifamily building with at least five units where at least half the units previously had rents affordable to households at 80% of the area median income (AMI), and rents have since increased beyond that threshold. These properties comprise nearly a quarter of the state’s multifamily housing units, totaling an estimated 901,764 units. Of these, these 39,738 units are currently at very high risk of losing their affordability; several hundred thousand more are at high or moderate risk, with the highest concentrations in Southern California and the Bay Area.^[2]

Increasingly, these properties have been targeted for acquisition and conversion by for-profit entities seeking to maximize rents, which is leading to the displacement of low-income residents and the loss of affordability for future low-income residents. CHP notes that acquiring and preserving more of these units would provide an opportunity to immediately create new deed-restricted homes, as opposed to lengthy financing and construction timelines for new units.

1. Incentivizing affordable housing. This bill seeks to address the loss of affordable properties discussed in 6) above by authorizing a local government to claim units that were converted from market rate to affordable for up to 25% of its RHNA allocation. Specifically, units in an existing multifamily building that were converted to affordable housing through long-term affordability covenants and restrictions may be counted toward the RHNA allocation for low, very low, extremely low, or acutely low households. Units are subject to specified requirements, including that they must have not have been subject to affordability covenants or restrictions prior to the conversion, must now be under a long-term affordable regulatory agreement, and must include relocation assistance protections.

Although RHNA is focused primarily on construction of new housing to increase the state’s overall housing supply, incentivizing local governments to facilitate conversion of market-rate units could help increase the portion of the state’s housing supply affordable to lower income households. By demonstrating progress toward meeting their lower income RHNA in this manner, local governments could satisfy a primary factor determining whether or not the streamlined, ministerial process for certain affordable housing projects established by SB 35 (Wiener, Chapter 366, Statutes of 2017) and updated in SB 423 (Wiener, Chapter 778, Statutes of 2023) applies to the jurisdiction.

Related Legislation:

AB 726 (Avila Farias, 2025) – authorizes a city or county to include in its APR, the number of units of deed-restricted affordability housing that have been substantially rehabilitated. This bill will be heard in this committee on 7/15.

AB 1131 (Ta, 2025) – authorizes cities and counties to include the number of units approved for congregate housing for the elderly in their APRs. This bill will also be heard in this committee today.

FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: Fiscal Com.: Local:

POSITIONS: (Communicated to the committee before noon on Wednesday,

June 25, 2025.)

SUPPORT:

Association of Bay Area Governments
Bay Area Community Land Trust
Beverly-vermont Community Land Trust
California Community Land Trust Network
California Green New Deal Coalition
California Housing Partnership
California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation
Care Community Land Trust
Chinatown Community Development Center
City of Oakland
City of San Rafael
East Bay Housing Organizations
East Palo Alto Community Alliance Neighborhood Development Organization
El Sereno Community Land Trust
Enterprise Community Partners, INC.
Hope Housing Community Land Trust
Housing California
Inland Equity Community Land Trusts
Legal Aid of Marin
Lisc Bay Area
Mission Economic Development Agency
Mt Tam Community Land Trust
Non-profit Housing Association of Northern California
Oakland Community Land Trust
Our Future Los Angeles
Public Counsel
Public Interest Law Project
Race & Equity in All Planning Coalition (REP-SF)
Sacramento Housing Alliance
San Francisco Board of Supervisors
San Francisco Community Land Trust
San Gabriel Valley Community Land Trust
Sv@home
Tenants Together
Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation
Trust South LA
Two Valleys Community Land Trust
United Way of Greater Los Angeles
Urban Habitat

OPPOSITION:

None received

-- END --

1. California Housing Partnership, 6,800 Affordable Homes At Risk, April 2025, CHP_2025-Subsidized-At-Risk-Report.pdf (chpc.net). ↑

2. California Housing Partnership, 40,000 Unsubsidized Affordable Homes At Risk, April 2025, CHP_2025-Unsubsidized-At-Risk-Report.pdf (chpc.net) ↑

ASSEMBLY THIRD READING

ATR Bill Id:AB 670

Author:(Quirk-Silva)

As Amended Ver:March 28, 2025

Majority vote

SUMMARY

Makes changes to the information that local governments must report in their Annual Progress Report (APR) each year regarding demolished and replacement units, and allows local governments to report the number of units in an existing multifamily building that were converted to affordable housing, as specified, for up to 25% of a jurisdiction′s regional housing need allocation (RHNA) for lower income units.

Major Provisions

1. Requires local governments to include in their APR whether each housing development application received in the prior year is subject to a replacement housing or relocation assistance obligation pursuant to local, state, or federal law, including specified provisions of state law requiring replacement housing or relocation assistance in certain circumstances.
2. Requires local governments to include in their APR, for each entitlement, building permit, or certificate of occupancy that must be reported under existing law, the total number of replacement housing units by income level required pursuant to local, state, or federal law, including specified provisions of state law requiring replacement housing or relocation assistance in certain circumstances, and the number, by income level, of replacement housing units entitled, permitted, or issued a certificate of occupancy.
3. Requires local governments to include in their APR a report on the demolition of housing units for any purpose, which must include, but is not limited to, all of the following:
   1. The total number of housing units approved for demolition during the year;
   2. The total number of housing units demolished during the year; and
   3. For each approved or completed demolition, specified locational, unit count, and relocation assistance information.
4. Requires local governments to include in their APR a report on replacement housing units required pursuant to local, state, or federal law, including, but not limited to, the Housing Crisis Act (HCA) of 2019, for approved development projects that are not housing development projects, which must include, for each applicable development project, all of the following:
   1. The approved or proposed location of the replacement units, using a unique site identifier that must include the APN and may also include the street address or other identifiers;
   2. The entity that is developing the replacement units; and
   3. The replacement units′ anticipated completion date.
5. Allows a local government, for purposes of the housing element portion of the APR, to report the number of units in an existing multifamily building that were converted to affordable housing by imposition of long-term affordability covenants and restrictions that require the unit to be available to persons or families of low income (LI), very low income (VLI), extremely low income (ELI), or acutely low income (ALI) at an affordable rent or affordable housing cost for at least 55 years.
6. Allows units reported under 5) above to be credited for up to 25% of a jurisdiction′s RHNA for LI, VLI, ELI, or ALI households.
7. Requires a report under 5) above to clearly indicate that the units were not newly constructed units and to provide all relevant project- and unit-level information as specified, including the area median income (AMI) category that each unit of housing satisfies.
8. Allows a unit to be reported as a converted unit under 5) above only if all of the following apply to the unit:
   1. The unit was not subject to any affordability covenants or restrictions prior to the conversion;
   2. The unit is subject to a long-term recorded regulatory agreement with a public entity that requires the unit to be affordable to, and occupied by, persons of LI, VLI, ELI, or ALI for a term of at least 55 years;
   3. Notwithstanding 8) b) above, the unit is subject to a requirement that a household or member of a household that resides in the property at the time of conversion must not be evicted, nor their tenancy terminated, on the basis of their income or other eligibility requirements for deed-restricted units in the property;
   4. Any occupants temporarily displaced by rehabilitation or improvements related to the conversion have been provided temporary replacement housing during the period of their temporary displacement;
   5. The unit is in decent, safe, and sanitary condition after conversion, including, but not limited to, any necessary initial rehabilitation; and
   6. The unit is subject to a governmental monitoring program to ensure continued affordability and occupancy by qualifying households throughout the term of the affordability restriction.

COMMENTS

Annual Progress Reports: Current law requires all local jurisdictions to provide housing information annually to HCD via the APR, including the following information from the current housing element cycle:

1. The number of housing development applications received, and whether those applications are subject to ministerial or discretionary approval;
2. The number of units included in all development applications;
3. The number of units approved and disapproved;
4. For each income category, the number of net (inclusive of demolished) new units of housing, including both rental housing and for-sale housing, that have been issued a completed entitlement, a building permit, or a certificate of occupancy;
5. A unique site identifier (such as APN) for each entitlement, building permit, or certificate of occupancy; and
6. The overall progress in meeting its share of RHNA.

It is important to note that APR submission has become a lengthy and involved process for city and county planning staff to undertake each year, and changing components can also prompt HCD to need to reconfigure its existing APR data collection and visualization tools to account for different categories of information. Adding new components to APRs should be considered carefully in light of the additional workload that will be placed on local planning staff or consultants as well as HCD.

This bill adds more specific reporting requirements for demolitions, and the author and sponsors point out that the current reporting on demolitions lacks specificity and better reporting would provide a clearer picture of how many housing units are lost to demolition each year. This bill also requires reporting of whether development applications trigger replacement housing or relocation assistance obligations, which are not currently required to be reported. The author and sponsors argue this makes it difficult to know whether local governments and developers are complying with various ″No Net Loss″ provisions of law that require replacement housing and relocation assistance to be provided to displaced residents, and particularly lower income residents, like those in the HCA of 2019, Density Bonus Law, and housing element law.

This bill would also create a pathway for local governments to receive APR and RHNA credit for the conversion and long-term preservation of existing unsubsidized housing, sometimes referred to as naturally occurring affordable housing (NOAH). According to the California Housing Partnership′s Unsubsidized Affordable Homes At-Risk report from April 2024, ″Since mid-2020, an estimated 163,094 homes located in 6,691 multifamily properties which were formerly identified as unsubsidized affordable housing are no longer affordable to low-income households″ (pg. 2). These are apartments where at least half of the units previously had rents affordable to households at 80% of AMI, and rents have since increased beyond that threshold. The report further estimates an additional 222,190 homes are at high or very high risk of losing their affordability, the vast majority of which are located in Southern California and the Bay Area. If more of these units can be acquired and preserved, this offers an ideal opportunity to create new deed-restricted homes immediately, as these buildings already exist. In contrast, lengthy financing and construction timelines often delay new affordable housing construction projects and cause them to take many years to be completed.

This bill attempts to incentivize local governments to support efforts to convert and preserve these NOAH units with long-term affordability protections. In order to be eligible to receive this credit, the units would have to meet the following criteria:

1. Be in an existing multifamily building not subject to any affordability covenants or restrictions prior to the conversion;
2. Be converted to affordable housing by the imposition of long-term affordability covenants and restrictions enforceable by a public entity that require the units to be available at an affordable rent or cost for at least 55 years;
3. Ensure that a household residing in the property at the time of conversion is not evicted on the basis of income or other eligibility requirements under the new deed restrictions;
4. Ensure any occupants temporarily displaced by rehabilitation or improvements related to the conversion have been provided temporary replacement housing, as necessary;
5. Be in decent, safe, and sanitary condition after conversion, including any rehab work; and
6. Be subject to a governmental monitoring program to ensure the continued affordability and occupancy by lower income households.

If the units meet all of these criteria, the jurisdiction would have the ability to report them in the APR and receive ″credit″ for up to 25% of their RHNA for LI, VLI, or for the upcoming 7^th housing element cycle, ELI or ALI units. This would be a significant incentive for local governments to identify and support preservation opportunities, as progress toward meeting lower income RHNA is the primary factor determining whether or not the streamlined, ministerial approval process for certain affordable projects established by SB 35 (Wiener), Chapter 366, Statutes of 2017 and updated in SB 423 (Wiener), Chapter 778, Statutes of 2023 applies to a jurisdiction.

According to the Author

″Preserving affordable housing is not just about protecting buildings. It is also about protecting people, families, and communities. While we continue building new housing, we cannot afford to lose the affordable homes we already have. AB 670 ensures that when we invest in keeping housing affordable, we recognize its value in the fight against displacement and homelessness. Building a more affordable California is not just about what we create, it is about what we refuse to lose.″

Arguments in Support

According to Enterprise Community Partners, the Public Interest Law Project, the Association of Bay Area Governments, and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the bill′s cosponsors, ″AB 670 will allow local governments to also report projects that preserve NOAH for the long term by converting existing unsubsidized affordable housing to deed-restricted affordable housing. Jurisdictions will be able to claim credit for up to 25% of their RHNA share in the relevant income category for these types of conversions. To qualify, the preserved units must meet certain requirements to ensure long-term affordability and no displacement of existing tenants. This would help incentivize local governments to support these types of projects, as well as promote a better understanding of where and how these projects are happening. […] The bill will [also] require local governments to report all demolished units on their APRs, regardless of the reason for the demolition. The APR will also include reporting on whether development project applications triggered a replacement housing or relocation assistance obligation and, if so, how replacement housing and relocation assistance requirements were met. This will generate valuable data about housing units being lost to new development and will help ensure that local governments and developers are complying with legal requirements to replace lost units as a condition of developing a new project and mitigate the impacts of displacement on individuals and families whose homes are demolished to make way for new development.″

Arguments in Opposition

According to the California Association of Realtors, ″The California Association of REALTORS (C.A.R.) will OPPOSE AB 670 (Quirk-Silva) until it is amended to ensure that the program: 1) does not permit the conversion of entry level market rate homeownership housing units (i.e., single family homes with ADUs, jr. ADUs, duplexes, triplexes, and fourplexes) are not converted into deed restricted corporate ownership; and, 2) is consistent with the state′s existing deed restricted affordability restrictions, which are consistently defined throughout California statute and regulation to impose occupancy requirements of 55 years for rental housing units.″

FISCAL COMMENTS

According to the Assembly Committee on Appropriations:

1. HCD estimates ongoing General Fund costs of $224,000 annually for one staff position and one-time GF automation costs of $100,000. Specific workload would include updating the APR form and instructions, updating HCD′s IT systems, and providing technical assistance to local governments.  

HCD notes there are multiple bills moving through the Legislature that impact the APR. These bills together create new workload for HCD′s Data and Innovation unit for new data collection tasks and changes to the APR form. HCD indicates the staff position and one-time fixed costs of $100,000 identified in this fiscal estimate should be sufficient to absorb new workload created by all of the APR-related bills. If not all of the APR-related bills go into effect, staffing costs may be less.

1. Although not keyed as a state mandate by Legislative Counsel, this bill requires each local agency to include additional information in its APR. This will likely result in ongoing costs to cities and counties of an unknown amount. However, these costs are not reimbursable by the state because local agencies have general authority to charge and adjust planning and permitting fees to cover their administrative expenses associated with new planning mandates.

VOTES

ASM HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: 10-0-1

YES: Haney, Patterson, Ávila Farías, Caloza, Kalra, Lee, Quirk-Silva, Ta, Wicks, Wilson

ABS, ABST OR NV: Gallagher

ASM LOCAL GOVERNMENT: 10-0-0

YES: Carrillo, Ta, Hoover, Pacheco, Ramos, Ransom, Blanca Rubio, Stefani, Ward, Wilson

ASM APPROPRIATIONS: 12-0-3

YES: Wicks, Arambula, Calderon, Caloza, Elhawary, Fong, Mark González, Hart, Pacheco, Pellerin, Solache, Ta

ABS, ABST OR NV: Sanchez, Dixon, Tangipa

UPDATED

VERSION: March 28, 2025

CONSULTANT: Nicole Restmeyer / H. & C.D. / (916) 319-2085 FN: 0000617

Date of Hearing: April 30, 2025

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

Buffy Wicks, Chair

ABPCA Bill Id:AB 670

Author:(Quirk-Silva) – As Amended Ver:March 28, 2025

Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: No Reimbursable: No

SUMMARY:

This bill requires a local agency to include in its Annual Progress Report (APR) to the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) additional information regarding demolished and replacement housing units. This bill also authorizes a local agency to count the number of existing unrestricted affordable housing units converted to long-term, deed-restricted affordable units towards meeting its share of the regional housing need.

Specifically, this bill:

1. Requires a local agency to include in its annual report to HCD and the Governor’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation (formerly the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR)).
   1. Information that identifies whether a housing development application is subject to a replacement housing requirement or relocation assistance obligation pursuant to local, state, or federal law, as specified.
   2. The total number of replacement housing units by income level required by local, state, or federal law, as specified, for each entitlement, building permit, or certificate of occupancy.
   3. The number of replacement housing units entitled, permitted, or issued a certificate of occupancy, as specified.
   4. A report on the demolition of housing units for any purpose, as specified.
   5. A report on replacement housing units required pursuant to local, state, or federal law, as specified, for approved development projects that are not housing development projects, which must include, for each applicable development project, specified elements.
2. Allows a local agency to report the number of units in an existing multifamily building converted to affordable housing, as defined, and allows these units to be credited for up to 25% of a jurisdiction’s regional housing need allocation (RHNA) for lower income units, as specified. Requires the report to clearly indicate the units were not newly constructed units and to provide all relevant project- and unit-level information.

FISCAL EFFECT:

1. HCD estimates ongoing General Fund costs of $224,000 annually for one staff position and one-time GF automation costs of $100,000. Specific workload would include updating the APR form and instructions, updating HCD’s IT systems, and providing technical assistance to local governments.  

HCD notes there are multiple bills moving through the Legislature that impact the APR. These bills together create new workload for HCD’s Data and Innovation unit for new data collection tasks and changes to the APR form. HCD indicates the staff position and one-time fixed costs of $100,000 identified in this fiscal estimate should be sufficient to absorb new workload created by all of the APR-related bills. If not all of the APR-related bills go into effect, staffing costs may be less.

1. Although not keyed as a state mandate by Legislative Counsel, this bill requires each local agency to include additional information in its APR. This will likely result in ongoing costs to cities and counties of an unknown amount. However, these costs are not reimbursable by the state because local agencies have general authority to charge and adjust planning and permitting fees to cover their administrative expenses associated with new planning mandates.

COMMENTS:

1. Purpose. According to the author:

Preserving affordable housing is not just about protecting buildings. It is also about protecting people, families, and communities. While we continue building new housing, we cannot afford to lose the affordable homes we already have. [This bill] ensures that when we invest in keeping housing affordable, we recognize its value in the fight against displacement and homelessness. Building a more affordable California is not just about what we create, it is about what we refuse to lose.

1. Background. APR Reporting. Existing law requires each city and county to prepare a general plan that includes a housing element detailing existing housing conditions within the jurisdiction, the need for new housing and the strategy the jurisdiction will use to address that need. Local governments must adopt a new housing element every eight years, although some rural jurisdictions must do so every five years. The amount of housing each local agency must plan for is established by the state’s RHNA process, and includes allocations for all income levels.

Each year, the local government’s planning agency must submit an APR to HCD documenting the city or county’s progress towards meeting its share of RHNA, pursuant to its housing element. The APR must include specific information about all proposed and approved housing development projects in the prior year, including the number of new units and the number of units demolished, among other provisions.

This bill requires a local agency to include in its APR additional information regarding demolished and replacement housing units, including whether each housing application is subject to a replacement housing or relocation assistance obligation. Advocates assert this information is important for ensuring local governments and developers are complying with various “No Net Loss” provisions that require replacement housing and relocation assistance be provided to displaced residents, particularly lower income residents.

Affordable Housing Preservation. Existing law allows a local agency, for purposes of meeting its RHNA obligations, to include the number of units in an existing multifamily building that were converted to deed-restricted rental housing for moderate-income households through affordability covenants and restrictions, if the units meet certain criteria.

This bill additionally allows a local agency to include the number of units in an existing multifamily building that are converted to affordable housing toward meeting up to 25% of its RHNA for low-, very low-, extremely low-, or acutely low-income households. To qualify, the units must be converted through long-term affordability covenants and restrictions and be available to persons or families of low-, very low-, extremely low-, or acutely-low income at an affordable rent or affordable housing cost for at least 55 years, and meet certain other criteria.

Affordable housing advocates claim there is an increasing number of unrestricted affordable units that are losing affordability to low-income renters due to increasing rents. They assert that allowing the above conversions to be counted toward a local agency’s RHNA obligation will encourage local governments to support the conversion and long-term preservation of existing unsubsidized affordable housing.

1. Related Legislation. This bill is one of three Assembly bills moving through the Legislature that affect APR requirements, including AB 726 (Avila Farias), and AB 1131 (Ta). Each of these bills is pending in this committee.

Analysis Prepared by: Jennifer Swenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081

Date of Hearing: April 9, 2025

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Juan Carrillo, Chair

ABPCA Bill Id:AB 670 (

Author:Quirk-Silva) – As Amended Ver:March 28, 2025

SUBJECT: Planning and zoning: housing element: converted affordable housing units

SUMMARY: Makes changes to the information that local governments must report in their Annual Progress Report (APR) each year regarding demolished and replacement units, and allows local governments to report the number of units in an existing multifamily building that were converted to affordable housing, as specified, for up to 25% of a jurisdiction’s regional housing need allocation (RHNA) for lower income units. Specifically, this bill:

1. Updates an outdated reference to the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation (LCI).
2. Requires a planning agency to include in their annual report to the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) and LCI:
   1. Information that identifies whether a housing development application is subject to a replacement housing requirement or relocation assistance obligation pursuant to local, state, or federal law, as specified.
   2. The total number of replacement housing units by income level required by local, state, or federal, as specified, for each entitlement, building permit, or certificate of occupancy.
   3. The number of replacement housing units entitled, permitted, or issued a certificate of occupancy, as specified.
   4. A report on the demolition of housing units for any purpose, which shall include, but not be limited to, all of the following:
      1. The total number of housing units approved for demolition during the year.
      2. The total number of housing units demolished during the year.
      3. For each approved or completed demolition, all of the following:
         1. The location of the approved or completed demolition, using a unique site identifier that shall include the assessor’s parcel number, and may also include the street address or other identifiers.
         2. The date the demolition was approved.
         3. The total number of rental and ownership units demolished or approved for demolition.
         4. The number, by income-level, of protected units, as defined, demolished or approved for demolition.
         5. A description of any approved uses on the site.
         6. A description of any relocation assistance provided as required pursuant to local, state, or federal law, including, but not limited to, the relocation assistance required to be provided to each displaced occupant of any demolished protected unit, as defined.
   5. A report on replacement housing units required pursuant to local, state, or federal law, as specified, for approved development projects that are not housing development projects, which shall include, for each applicable development project, all of the following:
      1. The approved or proposed location of the replacement units, using a unique site identifier that shall include the assessor’s parcel number, and may also include the street address, or other identifiers.
      2. The entity that is developing the replacement units.
      3. The replacement units’ anticipated completion date.
3. Allows a planning agency to include in the housing element portion of the annual report the number of units in an existing multifamily building that were converted to affordable housing by imposition of long-term affordability covenants and restrictions that require the unit to be available and affordable to persons or families of low-income, very low income (VLI), extremely low income (ELI), or acutely low income (ALI), as specified, for at least 55 years. These units may account for up to 25% of a jurisdiction’s RHNA for low-income, VLI, ELI, or ALI households. Requires the report to clearly indicate that the units were not newly constructed units and shall provide all relevant project and unit-level information, as specified.
4. Allows, for purposes of this bill, a unit to be report as a converted unit under 3) above if all of the following apply to the unit:
   1. The unit was not subject to any affordability covenants or restriction prior to the conversion.
   2. The unit is subject to a long-term recorded regulatory agreement with a public entity that requires the unit to be affordable to, and occupied by, persons of low-income, VLI, ELI, or ALI for a term of at least 55 years.
   3. The unit is subject to a requirement that a household or member of a household that resides in the property at the time of conversion shall not be evicted, nor shall their tenancy be terminated, on the basis of their income or other eligibility requirements for deed-restricted units in the property, as specified.
   4. Any occupants temporarily displaced by rehabilitation or improvements related to the conversion have been provided temporary replacement housing during the period of their temporary displacement.
   5. The unit is in decent, safe, and sanitary condition after conversion, including, but not limited to, any necessary initial rehabilitation.
   6. The unit is subject to a governmental monitoring program to ensure continued affordability and occupancy by qualifying households throughout the term of the affordability restriction.
5. Requires that units reported pursuant to 3) and 4) above be separated into the following categories:
   1. ALI
   2. ELI
   3. VLI
   4. Low-income units.

EXISTING LAW:

1. Requires a planning agency to provide an APR to the legislative body, the Office of Planning and Research, and HCD by April 1 of each year that includes all of the following:
   1. The status of the general plan and progress in its implementation;
   2. The progress in meeting its share of the RHNA, including the need for extremely low-income households, and local efforts to remove governmental constraints to the maintenance, improvement, and development of housing included in the housing element;
   3. The number of housing development applications received in the prior year, including whether each housing development application is subject to a ministerial or discretionary approval process;
   4. The number of units included in all development applications in the prior year;
   5. The number of units approved and disapproved in the prior year, disaggregated into income subcategories within opportunity areas, as specified;
   6. The degree to which the approved general plan complies with the guidelines developed in existing law for addressing specified matters, including environmental justice matters, collaborative land use planning of adjacent civilian and military lands, consultation with Native American tribes, and road and highway safety;
   7. A listing of sites rezoned to accommodate that portion of the city or county’s share of the RHNA for each income level that could not be accommodated on sites identified in the housing element’s site inventory and any sites that may have been required to be identified under the No Net Loss zoning law;
   8. The number of housing units demolished and new units of housing, including both rental housing and for-sale housing, that have been issued a completed entitlement, a building permit, or a certificate of occupancy, thus far in the housing element cycle, and the income category by AMI that each housing unit satisfies;
   9. Certain information regarding funding that may have been allocated via the Local Government Planning Support Grants Program;
   10. The progress of the city or county in adopting or amending its general plan or local open-space element in compliance with its obligations to consult with California Native American tribes and to identify and protect, preserve, and mitigate impacts to tribal places, features, and objects;
   11. Specified information related to density bonus law applications, including the number of units in a student housing development for lower income students for which the developer was granted a student housing density bonus;
   12. Specified information related to Affordable Housing and High Road Jobs Act of 2022 applications; and
   13. A list of all historic designations listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the California Register of Historic Resources, or a local register of historic places by the city or county in the past year, and the status of any housing development projects proposed for the new historic designations. [Government Code (GOV) § 65400 (a)(2)(A)-(N)]
2. Requires HCD to post APR reports on its website within a reasonable time of receiving the reports. [GOV § 65400(c)]
3. Provides that each community’s fair share of housing be determined through the RHNA process. (GOV § 65584.04)
4. Requires sites identified in a housing element to accommodate a jurisdiction’s share of RHNA, if those sites currently have residential units or have had residential units within the past five years that are or were subject to a recorded covenant, ordinance, or law that requires affordable rents or are or were subject to rent control, to be subject to a replacement policy that requires the replacement of all those units affordable to the same or lower income level as a condition of any development on the site, as specified. [GOV 65583.2 § (g)(3)]
5. Specifies replacement policies that apply to a density bonus project if that project is proposed on any property on which rental units are located or, if the units have been vacated or demolished in the five-year period preceding the application, have been subject to a recorded covenant, ordinance, or law that requires affordable rents, subject to rent control, or occupied by lower or very low-income households, as provided. (GOV § 65915)
6. Prohibits a city or county subject to the Housing Crisis Act (HCA) of 2019 from approving a housing development project that will require the demolition of one or more residential dwelling units unless the project will create at least as many residential dwelling units as will be demolished. Further prohibits an affected city or county from approving a development project that will require the demolition of occupied or vacant protected units, or that is located on a site where protected units were demolished in the previous five years, unless all of the following requirements are satisfied:
   1. The project will replace all existing protected units and protected units demolished on or after January 1, 2020, as provided;
   2. If the project is a housing development project, it will include at least as many residential dwelling units as the greatest number of residential dwelling units that existed on the project site within the last five years;
   3. Any existing occupants will be allowed to occupy their units until six months before the start of construction activities, and notice is provided to existing occupants, as specified;
   4. The developer agrees to provide both relocation benefits and a right of first refusal to the existing occupants of any protected units that are lower income households, as provided. (GOV§ 66300.6)
7. Defines “protected units” for purposes of 6) above as any of the following:
   1. Residential dwelling units that are or were subject to a recorded covenant, ordinance, or law that restricts rents to levels affordable to persons and families of lower income or VLI within the past five years;
   2. Residential dwelling units that are or were subject to any form of rent or price control through a public entity’s valid exercise of its police power within the past five years;
   3. Residential dwelling units that are or were rented by lower income or VLI households within the past five years; and
   4. Residential dwelling units that were withdrawn from rent or lease in accordance with the Ellis Act within the past 10 years. [GOV§ 66300.5(h)]
8. Establishes a streamlined, ministerial approval process for certain affordable and mixed-income housing developments pursuant to SB 35 (Wiener), Chapter 366, Statutes of 2017, if the developments are located in a jurisdiction where housing production is less than the jurisdiction’s RHNA for lower income households. (GOV § 65913.4)

FISCAL EFFECT: This bill has been keyed fiscal.

COMMENTS:

1. Bill Summary. This bill requires local government to report specified information about demolished and replacement units in their APR. This bill also allows local governments to report the number of units in an existing multifamily residential building that were converted to deed restricted affordable housing units, as specified, for up to 25% of the jurisdiction’s RHNA. It also allows units to be reported as converted units under specified conditions.

This is bill is sponsored by the Public Interest Law Project, Association of Bay Area Governments, Metropolitan Transportation Commission, and Enterprise Community Partners.

1. Author’s Statement. According to the author, “Preserving affordable housing is not just about protecting buildings. It is also about protecting people, families, and communities. While we continue building new housing, we cannot afford to lose the affordable homes we already have. AB 670 ensures that when we invest in keeping housing affordable, we recognize its value in the fight against displacement and homelessness. Building a more affordable California is not just about what we create, it is about what we refuse to lose.”
2. General Plan. A general plan serves as a local government’s blueprint for long-term growth and development, outlining policies and goals to shape the community’s future. Required by state law, every city and county in California must adopt a general plan that addresses key planning topics, known as elements. At a minimum, these include land use, circulation, housing, conservation, open space, noise, and safety. The general plan provides a foundation for zoning regulations, infrastructure investments, and public services, ensuring that development aligns with both local priorities and state requirements.
   
   According to state law, “The general plan shall consist of a statement of development policies and shall include a diagram or diagrams and text setting forth objectives, principles, standards, and plan proposals” (GOV § 65302). As communities evolve, general plans are periodically updated to reflect changing demographics, economic conditions, and environmental factors, making them a critical tool for sustainable and equitable development.
   
   While state law mandates that general plans cover specific topics, cities and counties have broad discretion in their structure, content, and level of detail. General plans range from 200 to over 2,000 pages and vary significantly based on local conditions and priorities. This flexibility reflects the Legislature’s recognition that “the diversity of the state’s communities and their residents requires planning agencies and legislative bodies to implement general plan law in ways that accommodate local conditions and circumstances, while meeting its minimum requirements” (GOV § 65300.7).
3. Adoption and Implementation of Housing Elements. One important tool in addressing the state’s housing crisis is to ensure that all of the state’s cities and counties appropriately plan for new housing. Such planning is required through the housing element of each community’s General Plan, which outlines a long-term plan for meeting the community’s existing and projected housing needs. Cities and counties are required to update their housing elements every eight years in most of the high population parts of the state, and five years in areas with smaller populations. Localities must adopt a legally valid housing element by their statutory deadline for adoption. Failure to do so can result in certain escalating penalties, including exposure to the “builder’s remedy” as well as public or private lawsuits, financial penalties, potential loss of permitting authority, or even court receivership. Localities that do not adopt a compliant housing element within 120 days from their statutory deadline also must complete any rezones within one year of their deadline, rather than the three years afforded to on-time adopters.
   
   Among other things, the housing element must demonstrate how the community plans to accommodate its share of its RHNA which is a figure determined by HCD through a demographic analysis of housing needs and population projections. HCD establishes its determination of each COG’s regional housing targets across the state for the next five- or eight-year planning cycle. Each COG (or in some areas, HCD acting directly as COG) then sub-allocates the RHNA to each local government within the COG’s jurisdiction, and in turn each jurisdiction uses its housing element to show how it will accommodate that number of new housing units, split out by income level and with a focus on certain special needs housing types and on affirmatively furthering fair housing.
   
   It is critical that local jurisdictions adopt legally compliant housing elements on time in order to meet statewide housing goals and create the environment for the successful construction of desperately needed housing at all income levels. Unless communities plan for production and preservation of affordable housing, new housing will be slow or extremely difficult to build.
   
   Adequate zoning, removal of regulatory barriers, protection of existing stock and targeting of resources are essential to obtaining a sufficient permanent supply of housing affordable to all economic segments of the community. Although not requiring the community to develop the housing, housing element law requires the community to plan for housing. Recognizing that local governments may lack adequate resources to house all those in need, the law nevertheless mandates that the community do all that it can and not engage in exclusionary zoning practices.
4. Planning for Housing and Tracking Outcomes. Each year, the local government's planning agency must submit an APR to HCD and LCI that documents the jurisdiction's progress towards meeting its general plan goals, including the implementation of its housing element and progress towards meetings its RHNA. Current law requires all local jurisdictions to include the following information from the current housing element cycle in its APR:
   1. The number of housing development applications received, and whether those applications are subject to ministerial or discretionary approval;
   2. The number of units included in all development applications;
   3. The number of units approved and disapproved;
   4. For each income category, the number of net new units of housing, including both rental housing and for-sale housing, that have been issued a completed entitlement, a building permit, or a certificate of occupancy;
   5. A unique site identifier (such as assessor’s parcel number) for each entitlement, building permit, or certificate of occupancy; and
   6. The overall progress in meeting its share of regional housing needs.

APRs are an important tool for both local governments and the state, as both parties can rely on them to track progress in implementing the housing policy in their housing element, as well as to track outcomes. They also help highlight implementation challenges that may require technical assistance or other support from HCD. Additionally, APRs are important for informing statewide housing policy. The APRs provide the data that, aggregated across all of the state's cities and counties, convey the amount, type, location, and affordability of housing produced in California.

1. No Net Loss Zoning Law. Current law, known as “No Net Loss” Zoning law also prohibits a local government from reducing or permitting the reduction of the residential density or allowing development at a lower residential density for any parcel, unless the local government makes written findings supported by substantial evidence that both:
   
2. The reduction is consistent with the adopted general plan, including the housing element; and,
   
3. The remaining sites identified in the housing element are adequate to accommodate the local government's share of the regional housing need.

A local government can also reduce the density on a parcel if it identifies sufficient additional, adequate, and available sites with an equal or greater residential density in the local government so that there is no net loss of residential unit capacity.

If the local government has a housing element in compliance with state law, “lower residential density” means the density set out in required identification of available sites. If a local government has not adopted a housing element for the current planning period or the adopted housing element is not in substantial compliance with state law, “lower residential density” means the following:

1. For residentially zoned sites, a density that is lower than 80% of the maximum allowable residential density for that parcel; or,
2. For sites on which non-residential uses are permitted, a use that would result in the development of fewer than 80% of the number of residential units that would be allowed under the maximum residential density for the site.
   
3. Protection, Production, and Preservation. The Legislature has enacted a variety of statutes to facilitate and encourage the production of housing, particularly affordable housing and housing to support individuals with disabilities or other needs. Among them is the Housing Accountability Act (HAA), enacted in 1982 and amended in 1990, in response to concerns over a growing rejection of housing development by local governments due to not-in-my-backyard (NIMBY) sentiments among local residents SB 2011 (Greene) Chapter 1439, Statutes of 1990. The HAA, also known as the “Anti-NIMBY” legislation, restricts a local agency’s ability to disapprove, or require density reductions in, housing projects that devote at least two-thirds of their floor area to residential units.
   

To build on the HAA and other recent housing legislation intended to streamline development, the Legislature enacted SB 330 (Skinner), Chapter 654, Statutes of 2019, the HCA of 2019 Among several main components, the HCA included anti-displacement protections and prohibited downzoning unless the local agency concurrently upzoned an equal amount elsewhere. SB 8 (Skinner), Chapter 161, Statutes of 2021, extended the sunset on the HCA by five years, to January 1, 2030, and provided that until January 1, 2034, the HCA’s provisions apply to a housing development project that submits a preliminary application before January 1, 2030.

Under the HCA an affected city or county must not approve a housing development project that requires the demolition of one or more residential units unless the project creates at least as many residential units as it will demolish. Furthermore, a city or county must not approve a housing development project that requires the demolition of occupied or vacant protected units unless all the following apply:

1. The project will replace all existing or demolished protected units, and any protected units replaced must be considered in determining whether the projects meets inclusionary requirements.
2. The project will include at least as many residential units as the greatest number of residential units that existed on the site within the last five years.
3. Any existing occupants will be allowed to occupy their units until six months before the start of construction with proper notice, and any existing occupants required to leave must be allowed to return at their prior rental rate if the demolition does not proceed and the property returns to the rental market.
4. The developer agrees to provide existing lower-income occupants of protected units relocation benefits and a right of first refusal for a comparable unit in the new housing development at an affordable cost, except as otherwise provided.

These provisions applied to cities that HCD determines to be in an urbanized area or urban cluster as designated by the U.S. Census, but does not include any city with a population of 5,000 or less, and is not located within an urbanized area. They also applied to counties that meet U.S. designations for urbanized areas.

1. Show Me the Money! In 2002, the Legislature changed state law to allow development fees to include “costs reasonably necessary to prepare and revise the plans and policies that a local agency is required to adopt before it can make any necessary findings and determinations” (AB 2936 (Aroner), Chapter 963, Statutes of 2002). It is important to note that as more is added into preparing the general plan, the housing element, or the APR, a local government may need to increase staff and acquire additional resources. By allowing a local government to add data to its APR, a local government is empowered to weigh the demands of their budget and consider pathways to meet policy goals in ways that consider the local governments’ current and projected workload and staffing levels. In contrast, imposing additional requirements to the planning process, including the APR, may prompt a local government to consider raising development fees to increase staffing and resources in order to comply with state law.
2. Related Legislation. AB 726 (Ávila Farías) allows local governments to include in their APR the number of units of existing deed-restricted affordable housing that have been substantially rehabilitated with at least $60,000 per unit in funds from the local government, as specified.

AB 1131 (Ta) authorizes a planning agency to include in the APR the number of units approved for congregate care for the elderly at or below 100% of the area median income, as defined. This bill is in the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee.

SB 681 (Wahab) requires a city or county that has a local density bonus ordinance to submit as part of their annual report a copy of the text of that ordinance. This bill is in the Senate Housing Committee.

SB 733 (Wahab) requires a local agency to identify in its APR the number of low barrier navigation centers permitted as a use by right. This bill is in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

1. Previous Legislation.AB 2653 (Santiago), Chapter 657, Statutes of 2022, authorized HCD to reject the housing element portion of a planning agency's APR if the report is not in substantial compliance with the law.
   
   AB 2094 (Rivas), Chapter 649, Statutes of 2022, required cities to include progress towards meeting their share of regional housing needs for extremely low-income households in their APR submitted to the HCD.

AB 787 (Gabriel), Chapter 350, Statutes of 2021, authorized cities and counties to receive credit towards their RHNA for the conversion of above moderate-income units to moderate-income units.

SB 8 (Skinner), Chapter 161, Statutes of 2021, extends the sunset on the HCA of 2019 by five years, to January 1, 2030, and makes other changes.

SB 330 (Skinner), Chapter 654, Statutes of 2019, establishes the Housing Crisis Act of 2019, which, until January 1, 2025, places restrictions on certain types of development standards, amends the Housing Accountability Act (HAA), and makes changes to local approval processes and the Permit Streamlining Act.

SB 166 (Skinner), Chapter 367, Statutes of 2017, required a local jurisdiction to accommodate its remaining unmet need at all times throughout the housing element planning period.

AB 2936 (Aroner), Chapter 963, Statutes of 2002, authorized local agency zoning and permit fees to include costs reasonably necessary to prepare and revise the plans and policies that a local agency is required to adopt before it can make any necessary findings and determinations.

AB 2292 (Dutra), Chapter 706,Statutes of 2002, prohibited a city or county from reducing, requiring, or permitting the reduction of residential density on any parcel below the density that was used to determine compliance with the housing element of the its general plan, with specified exceptions.

1. Arguments in Support. The Association of Bay Area Governments, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, Enterprise Community Partners, and the Public Interest Law Project writes in support of the bill, “While current law requires reporting of demolitions on APRs, it lacks specificity on what should be reported, making it difficult to know how many housing units are being lost to demolition each year. In addition, there is no current requirement to report on whether a development application triggers a replacement housing or relocation assistance obligation, making it difficult to know whether cities, counties, and developers are complying with these critical requirements. The law also does not currently clearly require reporting of housing demolished to make way for non-residential uses, such as for new commercial or industrial developments, projects that may also trigger replacement housing and relocation assistance obligations.
   
   “The bill will require local governments to report all demolished units on their APRs, regardless of the reason for the demolition. The APR will also include reporting on whether development project applications triggered a replacement housing or relocation assistance obligation and, if so, how replacement housing and relocation assistance requirements were met. This will generate valuable data about housing units being lost to new development and will help ensure that local governments and developers are complying with legal requirements to replace lost units as a condition of developing a new project and mitigate the impacts of displacement on individuals and families whose homes are demolished to make way for new development.”
2. Arguments in Opposition. The California Association of Realtors have an “oppose unless amended” position and write, “C.A.R. opposes the imposition of deed-restrictions placed in perpetuity, as they will ultimately inhibit and threaten the creation of naturally occurring affordable housing opportunities for our state’s first time and first-generation homeowners. Furthermore, ONLY 15% of California’s working families can afford to purchase a median-priced home. Since 2010, the median price of single families’ homes more than doubled and has almost tripled. In 2010, the median-priced home was $305,010, and in 2020 it was $659,380. Today, our median single-family home in California costs $874,290, primarily as the result of our state’s persistent lack of entry level market rate housing, which continues to be removed from the homeownership market in favor of for-profit and non-profit investors that seek a higher return on investment.
   

“Making matters worse, over the last 10 years, the state production of owner-occupied units has been cut in half despite various legislative efforts to ease building restrictions, as the Turner Center has reported in recent years that California is a majority renter state at 56%. In part, this dramatic shift is due to the conversion of ownership opportunities to for-profit and non-profit corporate ownership, making it clear that we need to ensure homes that have the potential for owner occupancy are not converted to deed restricted rental housing.”

1. Double-Referral. This bill is double-referred to the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee, where it passed on a 10-0 vote on March 26, 2025.

REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:

Support

Association of Bay Area Governments (Co-sponsor)

Enterprise Community Partners, INC. (Co-sponsor)

Metropolitan Transportation Commission (Co-sponsor)

Public Interest Law Project (Co-sponsor)

Bay Area Community Land Trust

Beverly-Vermont Community Land Trust

California Community Land Trust Network

California Housing Partnership

California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation

Care Community Land Trust

Chinatown Community Development Center

El Sereno Community Land Trust

Epacando

Hope Housing Community Land Trust

Housing California

Inland Equity Community Land Trusts

League of California Cities

Legal Aid of Marin

Lisc Bay Area

Lynwood; City of

Mission Economic Development Agency

Mt Tam Community Land Trust

Oakland Community Land Trust

Public Counsel

Sacramento Housing Alliance

San Francisco Community Land Trust

San Gabriel Valley Community Land Trust

Sv@home

Tenants Together

Trust South LA

Two Valleys Community Land Trust

United Way of Greater Los Angeles

Urban Habitat

West Hollywood, City of

Opposition

California Association of Realtors (unless amended)

Analysis Prepared by: Linda Rios / L. GOV. / (916) 319-3958

Date of Hearing: March 26, 2025

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

Matt Haney, Chair

ABPCA Bill Id:AB 670 (

Author:Quirk-Silva) – As Introduced Ver:February 14, 2025

SUBJECT: Planning and zoning: housing element: converted affordable housing units

SUMMARY: Makes changes to the information that local governments must report in their Annual Progress Report (APR) each year regarding demolished and replacement units, and allows local governments to report the number of units in an existing multifamily building that were converted to affordable housing, as specified, for up to 25% of a jurisdiction’s regional housing need allocation (RHNA) for lower income units. Specifically, this bill:

1. Requires local governments to include in their APR whether each housing development application received in the prior year is subject to a replacement housing or relocation assistance obligation pursuant to local, state, or federal law, including specified provisions of state law requiring replacement housing or relocation assistance in certain circumstances.
2. Requires local governments to include in their APR, for each entitlement, building permit, or certificate of occupancy that must be reported under existing law, the total number of replacement housing units by income level required pursuant to local, state, or federal law, including specified provisions of state law requiring replacement housing or relocation assistance in certain circumstances, and the number, by income level, of replacement housing units entitled, permitted, or issued a certificate of occupancy.
3. Requires local governments to include in their APR a report on the demolition of housing units for any purpose, which must include, but is not limited to, all of the following:
   1. The total number of housing units approved for demolition during the year;
   2. The total number of housing units demolished during the year; and
   3. For each approved or completed demolition, all of the following:
      1. The location of the approved or completed demolition, using a unique site identifier that must include the assessor’s parcel number (APN), and may also include the street address or other identifiers;
      2. The date the demolition was approved;
      3. The total number of rental and ownership units demolished or approved for demolition;
      4. The number, by income level, of protected units, as defined, demolished or approved for demolition;
      5. A description of any approved uses on the site; and
      6. A description of any relocation assistance provided as required pursuant to local, state, or federal law, including, but not limited to, the relocation assistance required to be provided to each displaced occupant of any demolished unit protected pursuant to the Housing Crisis Act (HCA) of 2019.
4. Requires local governments to include in their APR a report on replacement housing units required pursuant to local, state, or federal law, including, but not limited to, the HCA of 2019, for approved development projects that are not housing development projects, which must include, for each applicable development project, all of the following:
   1. The approved or proposed location of the replacement units, using a unique site identifier that must include the APN and may also include the street address or other identifiers;
   2. The entity that is developing the replacement units; and
   3. The replacement units’ anticipated completion date.
5. Allows a local government, for purposes of the housing element portion of the APR, to report the number of units in an existing multifamily building that were converted to affordable housing by imposition of long-term affordability covenants and restrictions that require the unit to be available to persons or families of low income (LI), very low income (VLI), extremely low income (ELI), or acutely low income (ALI) at an affordable rent or affordable housing cost for at least 55 years.
6. Allows units reported under 5) above to be credited for up to 25% of a jurisdiction’s RHNA for LI, VLI, ELI, or ALI households.
7. Requires a report under 5) above to clearly indicate that the units were not newly constructed units and to provide all relevant project- and unit-level information as specified, including the area median income (AMI) category that each unit of housing satisfies.
8. Allows a unit to be reported as a converted unit under 5) above only if all of the following apply to the unit:
   1. The unit was not subject to any affordability covenants or restrictions prior to the conversion;
   2. The unit is subject to a long-term recorded regulatory agreement with a public entity that requires the unit to be affordable to, and occupied by, persons of LI, VLI, ELI, or ALI for a term of at least 55 years;
   3. Notwithstanding 8) b) above, the unit is subject to a requirement that a household or member of a household that resides in the property at the time of conversion must not be evicted, nor their tenancy terminated, on the basis of their income or other eligibility requirements for deed-restricted units in the property;
   4. Any occupants temporarily displaced by rehabilitation or improvements related to the conversion have been provided temporary replacement housing during the period of their temporary displacement;
   5. The unit was converted with committed assistance;
   6. The unit is in decent, safe, and sanitary condition after conversion, including, but not limited to, any necessary initial rehabilitation; and
   7. The unit is subject to a governmental monitoring program to ensure continued affordability and occupancy by qualifying households throughout the term of the affordability restriction.
9. Requires units reported under 5) above to be separated into ALI, ELI, VLI, and LI units.

EXISTING LAW:

1. Requires a planning agency to provide an APR to the legislative body, the Office of Planning and Research, and the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) by April 1 of each year that includes all of the following:
   1. The status of the general plan and progress in its implementation;
   2. The progress in meeting its share of the RHNA, including the need for extremely low-income households, and local efforts to remove governmental constraints to the maintenance, improvement, and development of housing included in the housing element;
   3. The number of housing development applications received in the prior year, including whether each housing development application is subject to a ministerial or discretionary approval process;
   4. The number of units included in all development applications in the prior year;
   5. The number of units approved and disapproved in the prior year, disaggregated into income subcategories within opportunity areas, as specified;
   6. The degree to which the approved general plan complies with the guidelines developed in existing law for addressing specified matters, including environmental justice matters, collaborative land use planning of adjacent civilian and military lands, consultation with Native American tribes, and road and highway safety;
   7. A listing of sites rezoned to accommodate that portion of the city or county’s share of the RHNA for each income level that could not be accommodated on sites identified in the housing element’s site inventory and any sites that may have been required to be identified under the No Net Loss zoning law;
   8. The number of housing units demolished and new units of housing, including both rental housing and for-sale housing, that have been issued a completed entitlement, a building permit, or a certificate of occupancy, thus far in the housing element cycle, and the income category by AMI that each housing unit satisfies;
   9. Certain information regarding funding that may have been allocated via the Local Government Planning Support Grants Program;
   10. The progress of the city or county in adopting or amending its general plan or local open-space element in compliance with its obligations to consult with California Native American tribes and to identify and protect, preserve, and mitigate impacts to tribal places, features, and objects;
   11. Specified information related to density bonus law applications, including the number of units in a student housing development for lower income students for which the developer was granted a student housing density bonus;
   12. Specified information related to Affordable Housing and High Road Jobs Act of 2022 applications; and
   13. A list of all historic designations listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the California Register of Historic Resources, or a local register of historic places by the city or county in the past year, and the status of any housing development projects proposed for the new historic designations. (Government Code (GOV) 65400(a)(2)(A)-(N))
2. Requires HCD to post APR reports on its website within a reasonable time of receiving the reports. (GOV 65400(c))
3. Provides that each community’s fair share of housing be determined through the RHNA process. (GOV 65584.04)
4. Requires sites identified in a housing element to accommodate a jurisdiction’s share of RHNA, if those sites currently have residential units or have had residential units within the past five years that are or were subject to a recorded covenant, ordinance, or law that requires affordable rents or are or were subject to rent control, to be subject to a replacement policy that requires the replacement of all those units affordable to the same or lower income level as a condition of any development on the site, as specified. (GOV 65583.2(g)(3))
5. Specifies replacement policies that apply to a density bonus project if that project is proposed on any property on which rental units are located or, if the units have been vacated or demolished in the five-year period preceding the application, have been subject to a recorded covenant, ordinance, or law that requires affordable rents, subject to rent control, or occupied by lower or very low-income households, as provided. (GOV 65915)
6. Prohibits a city or county subject to the HCA of 2019 from approving a housing development project that will require the demolition of one or more residential dwelling units unless the project will create at least as many residential dwelling units as will be demolished. Further prohibits an affected city or county from approving a development project that will require the demolition of occupied or vacant protected units, or that is located on a site where protected units were demolished in the previous five years, unless all of the following requirements are satisfied:
   1. The project will replace all existing protected units and protected units demolished on or after January 1, 2020, as provided;
   2. If the project is a housing development project, it will include at least as many residential dwelling units as the greatest number of residential dwelling units that existed on the project site within the last five years;
   3. Any existing occupants will be allowed to occupy their units until six months before the start of construction activities, and notice is provided to existing occupants, as specified;
   4. The developer agrees to provide both relocation benefits and a right of first refusal to the existing occupants of any protected units that are lower income households, as provided. (GOV 66300.6)
7. Defines “protected units” for purposes of 6) above as any of the following:
   1. Residential dwelling units that are or were subject to a recorded covenant, ordinance, or law that restricts rents to levels affordable to persons and families of lower or very low income within the past five years;
   2. Residential dwelling units that are or were subject to any form of rent or price control through a public entity’s valid exercise of its police power within the past five years;
   3. Residential dwelling units that are or were rented by lower or very low income households within the past five years; and
   4. Residential dwelling units that were withdrawn from rent or lease in accordance with Ellis Act within the past 10 years. (GOV 66300.5(h))
8. Establishes a streamlined, ministerial approval process for certain affordable and mixed-income housing developments pursuant to SB 35 (Wiener, Chapter 366, Statutes of 2017) if the developments are located in a jurisdiction where housing production is less than the jurisdiction’s RHNA for lower income households. (GOV 65913.4)

FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown.

COMMENTS:

Author’s Statement: According to the author, “Preserving affordable housing is not just about protecting buildings. It is also about protecting people, families, and communities. While we continue building new housing, we cannot afford to lose the affordable homes we already have. AB 670 ensures that when we invest in keeping housing affordable, we recognize its value in the fight against displacement and homelessness. Building a more affordable California is not just about what we create, it is about what we refuse to lose.”

Annual Progress Reports: Current law requires all local jurisdictions to provide housing information annually to HCD via the APR, including the following information from the current housing element cycle:

• The number of housing development applications received, and whether those applications are subject to ministerial or discretionary approval;
• The number of units included in all development applications;
• The number of units approved and disapproved;
• For each income category, the number of net (inclusive of demolished) new units of housing, including both rental housing and for-sale housing, that have been issued a completed entitlement, a building permit, or a certificate of occupancy;
• A unique site identifier (such as APN) for each entitlement, building permit, or certificate of occupancy; and
• The overall progress in meeting its share of RHNA.

It is important to note that APR submission has become a lengthy and involved process for city and county planning staff to undertake each year, and changing components can also prompt HCD to need to reconfigure its existing APR data collection and visualization tools to account for different categories of information. Adding new components to APRs should be considered carefully in light of the additional workload that will be placed on local planning staff or consultants as well as HCD.

This bill adds more specific reporting requirements for demolitions, and the author and sponsors point out that the current reporting on demolitions lacks specificity and better reporting would provide a clearer picture of how many housing units are lost to demolition each year. This bill also requires reporting of whether development applications trigger replacement housing or relocation assistance obligations, which are not currently required to be reported. The author and sponsors argue this makes it difficult to know whether local governments and developers are complying with various “No Net Loss” provisions of law that require replacement housing and relocation assistance to be provided to displaced residents, and particularly lower income residents, like those in the HCA of 2019, Density Bonus Law, and housing element law.

This bill would also create a pathway for local governments to receive APR and RHNA credit for the conversion and long-term preservation of existing unsubsidized housing, sometimes referred to as naturally occurring affordable housing (NOAH). According to the California Housing Partnership’s Unsubsidized Affordable Homes At-Risk report from April 2024, “Since mid-2020, an estimated 163,094 homes located in 6,691 multifamily properties which were formerly identified as unsubsidized affordable housing are no longer affordable to low-income households” (pg. 2). These are apartments where at least half of the units previously had rents affordable to households at 80% of AMI, and rents have since increased beyond that threshold. The report further estimates an additional 222,190 homes are at high or very high risk of losing their affordability, the vast majority of which are located in Southern California and the Bay Area. If more of these units can be acquired and preserved, this offers an ideal opportunity to create new deed-restricted homes immediately, as these buildings already exist. In contrast, lengthy financing and construction timelines often delay new affordable housing construction projects and cause them to take many years to be completed.

This bill attempts to incentivize local governments to support efforts to convert and preserve these NOAH units with long-term affordability protections. In order to be eligible to receive this credit, the units would have to meet the following criteria:

• Be in an existing multifamily building not subject to any affordability covenants or restrictions prior to the conversion;
• Be converted to affordable housing by the imposition of long-term affordability covenants and restrictions enforceable by a public entity that require the units to be available at an affordable rent or cost for at least 55 years;
• Ensure that a household residing in the property at the time of conversion is not evicted on the basis of income or other eligibility requirements under the new deed restrictions;
• Ensure any occupants temporarily displaced by rehabilitation or improvements related to the conversion have been provided temporary replacement housing, as necessary;
• Be converted with committed assistance;
• Be in decent, safe, and sanitary condition after conversion, including any rehab work; and
• Be subject to a governmental monitoring program to ensure the continued affordability and occupancy by lower income households.

If the units meet all of these criteria, the jurisdiction would have the ability to report them in the APR and receive “credit” for up to 25% of their RHNA for LI, VLI, or for the upcoming 7^th housing element cycle, ELI or ALI units. This would be a significant incentive for local governments to identify and support preservation opportunities, as progress toward meeting lower income RHNA is the primary factor determining whether or not the streamlined, ministerial approval process for certain affordable projects established by SB 35 (Wiener, Chapter 366, Statutes of 2017) and updated in SB 423 (Wiener, Chapter 778, Statutes of 2023) applies to a jurisdiction.

Arguments in Support: According to Enterprise Community Partners, the Public Interest Law Project, the Association of Bay Area Governments, and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the bill’s cosponsors, “AB 670 will allow local governments to also report projects that preserve NOAH for the long term by converting existing unsubsidized affordable housing to deed-restricted affordable housing. Jurisdictions will be able to claim credit for up to 25% of their RHNA share in the relevant income category for these types of conversions. To qualify, the preserved units must meet certain requirements to ensure long-term affordability and no displacement of existing tenants. This would help incentivize local governments to support these types of projects, as well as promote a better understanding of where and how these projects are happening. […] The bill will [also] require local governments to report all demolished units on their APRs, regardless of the reason for the demolition. The APR will also include reporting on whether development project applications triggered a replacement housing or relocation assistance obligation and, if so, how replacement housing and relocation assistance requirements were met. This will generate valuable data about housing units being lost to new development and will help ensure that local governments and developers are complying with legal requirements to replace lost units as a condition of developing a new project and mitigate the impacts of displacement on individuals and families whose homes are demolished to make way for new development.”

Arguments in Opposition: None on file.

Committee Amendments: Staff recommends the following amendment:

1. Delete the requirement in Section 2 of the bill, GOV 65400.3(b)(5) for the preservation units to be converted via “committed assistance,” a process in housing element law that would require significant upfront legal and financial commitments from a local government in order for preserved units to be eligible for this new credit pathway.

GOV 65400.3. (b) (1) For purposes of the housing element portion of the annual report required by paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 65400, for up to 25 percent of a jurisdiction’s regional housing need allocation for low-, very low, extremely low, or acutely low income households, the planning agency may include the number of units in an existing multifamily building that were converted to affordable housing by imposition of long-term affordability covenants and restrictions that require the unit to be available to persons or families of low, very low, extremely low, or acutely low income at an affordable rent or affordable housing cost for at least 55 years.

(2) The report shall clearly indicate that the units described in paragraph (1) were not newly constructed units and shall provide all relevant project- and unit-level information, as described in subparagraph (H) of paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 65400.

(c) For purposes of this section, a unit may be reported as a converted unit under subdivision (b) only if all of the following apply to the unit:

(1) The unit was not subject to any affordability covenants or restrictions prior to the conversion.

(2) The unit is subject to a long-term recorded regulatory agreement with a public entity that requires the unit to be affordable to, and occupied by, persons of low, very low, extremely low, or acutely low income for a term of at least 55 years.

(3) Notwithstanding the occupancy restrictions required by paragraph (2), the unit is subject to a requirement that a household or member of a household that resides in the property at the time of conversion shall not be evicted, nor shall their tenancy be terminated, on the basis of their income or other eligibility requirements for deed-restricted units in the property.

(4) Any occupants temporarily displaced by rehabilitation or improvements related to the conversion have been provided temporary replacement housing during the period of their temporary displacement.

(5) The unit was converted with committed assistance.

(6) The unit is in decent, safe, and sanitary condition after conversion, including, but not limited to, any necessary initial rehabilitation.

(7) The unit is subject to a governmental monitoring program to ensure continued affordability and occupancy by qualifying households throughout the term of the affordability restriction.

(d) Units reported under this section shall be separated into the following categories:

(1) Acutely low income units.

(2) Extremely low income units.

(3) Very low income units.

(4) Low-income units.

Related Legislation:

AB 726 (Ávila Farías) of the current legislative session would allow a local government to include in its APR the number of units of existing deed-restricted affordable housing that have been substantially rehabilitated with at least $60,000 per unit in funds from the local government, as specified. This bill is currently pending a hearing in this committee.

AB 1131 (Ta) of the current legislative session would allow a local government to include in its APR the number of units approved for congregate housing for the elderly that is at or below 100% of AMI. This bill is currently pending a hearing in this committee.

AB 3093 (Ward), Chapter 282, Statutes of 2024: Added ELI (15-30% of AMI) and ALI (0-15% of AMI) to the distribution of income categories for purposes of RHNA and housing elements.

SB 721 (Becker) of 2024 would have added to the list of information local governments must provide in their APR the number of new and demolished suite-style student housing quarters by income category thus far in the housing element cycle, as determined by the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD). That bill was held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

SB 330 (Skinner), Chapter 654, Statutes of 2019: Enacted the HCA of 2019, which restricted certain actions by local governments that would reduce the production of housing and imposed “No Net Loss,” relocation assistance, and right of first refusal requirements on projects demolishing housing.

Double Referred: This bill was also referred to the Assembly Committee on Local Government where it will be heard should it pass out of this committee.

REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:

Support

Enterprise Community Partners (sponsor)

Public Interest Law Project (sponsor)

Association of Bay Area Governments (sponsor)

Metropolitan Transportation Commission (sponsor)

Bay Area Community Land Trust

Beverly-Vermont Community Land Trust

California Community Land Trust Network

California Housing Partnership

California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation

CARE Community Land Trust

Chinatown Community Development Center

EPACANDO - East Palo Alto Community Alliance and Neighborhood Development Organization

El Sereno Community Land Trust

Hope Housing Community Land Trust

Housing California

Inland Equity Community Land Trust

LISC Bay Area

Mt Tam Community Land Trust

Oakland Community Land Trust

Public Counsel

Sacramento Housing Alliance

San Francisco Community Land Trust

San Gabriel Valley Community Land Trust

SV@Home

T.R.U.S.T. South LA (Tenemos Que Reclamar Y Unidos Salvar LA Tierra)

Two Valleys Community Land Trust

United Way of Greater Los Angeles

Urban Habitat

Opposition

None on file.

Analysis Prepared by: Nicole Restmeyer / H. & C.D. / (916) 319-2085