Planning and zoning: annual report: emergency shelter.

The bill now amends Section 65400 of the Government Code in addition to Section 65583, expanding from housing element requirements to also cover annual reporting obligations.

The homeless data requirements previously limited to local governments NOT receiving HHAP funding (old paragraph 10 of Section 65583) are restructured so that emergency shelter reporting applies more broadly through the annual report mechanism, though still tied to the 7th cycle revision timeline.

New annual report due April 1 each year must include: number of units approved and disapproved broken down by income level (acutely low, extremely low, very low, lower income, moderate, above moderate) within 'opportunity areas' as defined by the CTCAC/HCD Opportunity Map.

Beginning with the report due April 1, 2027, local governments must report on demolition of housing units including total units demolished, location by assessor's parcel number, number of protected units demolished, and relocation assistance provided.

Beginning with the report due April 1, 2027, local governments must report on replacement housing units required for approved non-housing development projects, including location, developing entity, and anticipated completion date.

Beginning with the first annual report after the 7th cycle housing element revision due date, the report must include: a list of federal/state/local funding allocated from HHAP or Regionally Coordinated HHAP programs, a description of outreach actions taken to inform unhoused individuals about those resources, point-in-time count data from the continuum of care, actions taken for extremely low income households, regional coordination efforts, and homelessness prevention programs.

HCD must post submitted annual reports on its internet website within a reasonable time of receiving them.

Beginning with the report due April 1, 2027, housing development applications must be reported as either subject to ministerial or discretionary approval, and whether they carry a replacement housing or relocation assistance obligation under local, state, or federal law.

Defines 'opportunity area' as a highest, high, moderate, or low resource area per the most recent CTCAC/HCD Opportunity Map published by the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee and HCD.

HCD may request corrections to the housing element portion of an annual report within 90 days of receipt; the planning agency must correct within 30 days or the department may reject the report. A court enforcement mechanism allows a plaintiff to seek an order compelling compliance if a local government fails to submit a substantially compliant housing element report within 60 days of the deadline, with potential sanctions for continued non-compliance.

Local governments must identify one or more zoning designations where emergency shelters are allowed as a permitted use without a conditional use permit, with sufficient sites to accommodate the shelter need identified in paragraph (7). At minimum, each local government must identify zoning that can accommodate at least one year-round emergency shelter. If insufficient capacity exists, the local government must include a program to amend its zoning ordinance within one year.

Emergency shelters may only be subject to a limited set of written, objective standards: maximum beds or persons served nightly, sufficient staff parking (not more than other uses in the same zone), size and location of waiting/intake areas, onsite management, proximity (shelters need not be more than 300 feet apart), length of stay, lighting, and security during operating hours.

Site capacity for emergency shelters is calculated by dividing square footage by a minimum of 200 square feet per person, unless the locality can demonstrate prior shelters were developed with fewer square feet per person. This standard is only for calculating site capacity and does not establish development standards.

The need for emergency shelter must be assessed based on: the most recent point-in-time count before the planning period, year-round and seasonal bed availability, unused shelter beds on an average monthly basis over one year, and the percentage of shelter residents who move to permanent housing. The need may be reduced by supportive housing units in an adopted 10-year plan that are vacant or have identified funding.

For the seventh and subsequent housing element revisions, local governments must include a potential and actual governmental constraints disclosure statement identifying each new or amended constraint adopted after the previous element's due date, and any constraints the governing body can anticipate adopting during the first three years of the planning period.

For the seventh and subsequent housing element revisions, the special housing needs analysis must also include an analysis of housing needs of acutely and extremely low income households, and the program must assist in developing adequate housing for acutely low income households.

Local governments that do not receive HHAP or Regionally Coordinated HHAP funding must include in their housing element: an itemized list of resources for unhoused individuals; a description of actions to connect unhoused people to those resources; detailed data on the unhoused population (number, average length of time, transitions to permanent housing, re-entry rates, first-time homelessness, institutional exits) disaggregated by age, race, and ethnicity; key actions to reduce homelessness based on that data; regional coordination efforts including MOUs; and identification of prevention programs for vulnerable populations.

'Emergency shelter' is defined to include other interim interventions such as navigation centers, bridge housing, and respite or recuperative care, plus all services provided onsite consistent with the objective standards.

Permit processing, development, and management standards applied to emergency shelters under this section are not deemed discretionary acts under CEQA, effectively exempting them from environmental review.

Local governments may satisfy shelter zoning requirements through a multijurisdictional agreement with up to two adjacent communities, requiring participating jurisdictions to develop at least one year-round emergency shelter within two years of the planning period start. The agreement must allocate capacity as credit toward each jurisdiction's need.

The bill's scope expanded from a simple legislative intent statement to a full amendment of Government Code Section 65583, applying to all cities and counties including charter cities (with findings that the changes address a matter of statewide concern).

A local government that can demonstrate existing emergency shelters (within its jurisdiction or via multijurisdictional agreement) can accommodate its identified need may comply by identifying a zoning designation where new shelters are allowed with a conditional use permit, rather than as a permitted use.

If a local government fails to complete required rezoning by the deadline, it may not disapprove a housing development project on a site required to be rezoned, nor require a conditional use permit or other discretionary permit, if the project complies with applicable objective general plan and zoning standards. The applicant or any interested person may bring an action to enforce this provision, and the city or county bears the burden of proof.

The fiscal note changed from 'Fiscal committee: no' to 'Fiscal committee: yes' and 'State-mandated local program: no' to 'State-mandated local program: yes,' indicating the bill now imposes costs on local governments. The bill provides that no state reimbursement is required for this mandated local program.

Rezoning deadlines: for the sixth housing element revision, rezoning must be completed within three years of adoption (or one year from the statutory deadline if the local government failed to adopt a compliant element within 120 days of the deadline). For the seventh and subsequent revisions, rezoning must be completed within one year of the statutory deadline, extendable to three years and 90 days if the local government submitted a draft at least 90 days before the deadline, received substantial compliance findings by the deadline, and adopted the element within 120 days after the deadline.

The bill's subject line was changed from 'relating to homelessness. land use.' to 'relating to land use,' removing the explicit homelessness reference from the bill title.

The Legislative Counsel's Digest header removed the 'Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention program: housing element' reference, leaving only 'Planning and zoning: housing element: unhoused population.'

In the housing element coordination requirements (paragraph iii), the text now specifies coordination 'with a county' to the delivery of services, and changes the reference from being 'in relation to the Mental Health Services Act or Behavioral Health Services Act' to 'in relation to accessing services provided by the Mental Health Services Act or Behavioral Health Services Act,' shifting focus from the statutes themselves to the actual services they deliver.

A likely typo was introduced in the governmental constraints analysis section, duplicating the word 'policies' ('practices and policies policies, and an assessment').

All internal page references were renumbered from 97 to 96, reflecting a one-page reduction in the bill.

Removed provisions related to emergency and interim shelters, including language stating the Legislature's intent to enact the Emergency and Interim Shelter Capacity Act and existing law about shelter crisis declarations.

Bill title changed from 'relating to state government' and 'homelessness' to simply 'homelessness' and 'land use,' reflecting the narrowed focus on housing element planning requirements rather than broader emergency shelter authority.

Added a requirement that the assessment in paragraph (a)(10) - covering local governments not receiving HHAP funding - must be updated at least every two years following the completion of the point-in-time count. This creates a recurring obligation for those jurisdictions to refresh their data on the unhoused population.

Fiscal committee review changed from 'no' to 'yes' and state-mandated local program designation changed from 'no' to 'yes,' meaning the bill now triggers fiscal analysis and is formally recognized as imposing a state-mandated local program requiring potential reimbursement considerations.