AB 1279 (by Richard Bloom):

http://www.leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB1279

This bill would require the department to designate areas in this state as high-opportunity areas, as provided, by January 12022, in accordance with specified requirements and to update those designations within 6 months of the adoption of new Opportunity Maps by the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee. The bill would authorize a city or county to appeal the designation of an area within its jurisdiction as a high-opportunity area, as provided. In any area designated as high-opportunity area, the bill would require that a residential development project be a use by right, upon the request of a developer the project meets specified requirements, including specified affordability requirements. For certain residential development projects where the initial sales price or initial rent exceeds the affordable housing cost or affordable rent to households with incomes equal to or less than specified percentages of the area median income, the bill would require the applicant to agree to pay a , fee in an amount that would vary based on the size of the project and whether the units are ownership or rental units, as provided. The bill would require the city or county to deposit the fee into a separate fund reserved for the construction or preservation of housing with an affordable housing cost or affordable rent to households with a household income less than 50% of the area median income. The bill would provide that approval as a use by right of certain residential development projects under these provisions would expire after 2 years, unless the project receives a one-time, one-year extension, as provided.

SATT NOTE:  This bill would require that an applicant agrees to, and the city and county ensure, the continued affordability of rental units affordable to lower income and very low-income households for 55 years and that the affordability of ownership units to the initial occupant of those units, as provided. The bill would provide that a residential development project is ineligible as a use by right under these provisions if, among other things, it is proposed to be located on a site that has rental housing that is currently occupied by tenants, or had rental housing occupied by tenants within the past 10 years, or is located in certain areas. The bill would include findings that the changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities.