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

Existing law, the Planning and Zoning Law, requires each city, county, and city and county to prepare and adopt a general plan that contains certain mandatory elements, including a housing element. Existing law requires that the housing element include, among other things, an assessment of housing needs and an inventory of resources and constraints relevant to meeting those needs. Existing law requires the Department of Housing and Community Development, in consultation with each council of governments, to determine each region's existing and projected housing need and requires each council of governments, or the department for cities and counties without a council of governments, to adopt a final regional housing need plan that allocates a share of the regional housing need to each city, county, or city and county, as provided. Existing law requires the planning agency of a city or county to provide an annual report that includes specified information by April 1 of each year to specified entities, including the Department of Housing and Community Development. Among other things, existing law requires that this report include the progress in meeting the city's or county's share of regional housing needs and local efforts to remove governmental constraints to the maintenance, improvement, and development of housing, as specified. This bill would authorize a planning agency to include in its annual report, for up to 25% of a jurisdiction's moderate-income regional housing need allocation, 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. The bill would apply only to converted units that meet specified requirements, including that the rent for the unit prior to conversion was not affordable to very low, low-, or moderate-income households and the initial postconversion rent for the unit is at least 10% less than the average monthly rent charged over the 12 months prior to conversion. The bill would authorize a city or county to reduce its share of regional housing need for the income category of the converted units on a unit-for-unit basis, as specified. The bill would provide that the Department of Housing and Community Development is not required to implement the provisions of this bill until January 1, 2023. However, for reports issued after January 1, 2023, planning agencies may report conversions that occurred on or after January 1, 2022.