Planning and zoning: housing development: independent institutions of higher education and religious institutions.

The Planning and Zoning Law requires each county and city to adopt a comprehensive, long-term general plan that includes, among other mandatory elements, a housing element. That law requires the city's or county's planning agency, after the legislative body has adopted a general plan, to submit an annual report to the legislative body, the Office of Planning and Research, and the Department of Housing and Community Development. Existing law, the Affordable Housing on Faith and Higher Education Lands Act of 2023 (the act) , requires a housing development project on certain lands owned by an independent institution of higher education or a religious institution to be a use by right if the development project satisfies specified criteria, including that a specified percentage of the development project's total units are for lower income households. This bill would require a local government to include in the annual report specified information relating to housing development projects under the act, including the number of applications submitted and the total number of building permits issued under the act. The bill would require the Department of Housing and Community Development, by July 1, 2025, to develop and publish a list of existing state grants and financial incentives available for the planning, construction, and operation of very low, low-, and moderate-income housing on land owned by religious institutions and independent institutions of higher education, and a set of model partnership agreements that can be used by those institutions when they partner with an affordable housing builder. By requiring a local agency to include additional information in their annual reports, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.