SB 330: Housing Crisis Act

Senate Bill 330, dubbed the "Housing Crisis Act of 2019," is a long and complicated bill that makes key changes to the Planning and Zoning Law to remove obstacles to the processing and approval of new housing in order to advance state housing production goals of building 3.5 million new homes over the next seven years. Modeled on processes that California cities sometimes employ after a disaster to speed up residential permitting and relax land use regulations in order to quickly rebuild, SB 330 is a five-year bill that expires on Jan. 1, 2025.

For that five-year period, SB 330:

• Creates a new form of statutory vested rights that prohibits local agencies from applying new ordinances, policies, and standards, including fees, charges, or other monetary exactions, to a housing development project after an applicant submits a complete "preliminary application" that contains certain statutorily prescribed information. The bill establishes limited exceptions where (1) indexed and published fees automatically increase, (2) a preponderance of the evidence in the record establishes a project would create a specific adverse impact on public health or safety that cannot otherwise be mitigated, (3) a project is revised so that the number of residential units or square footage of construction changes by 20% or more, and (4) a project has not commenced construction for 2.5 years after final local approval.

• Shortens the approval times after CEQA compliance and limits the number of hearings a local agency may conduct to five if a proposed project is consistent with objective planning, zoning, and design requirements. The term "hearing" is broadly defined to include workshops, meetings, and continuances.

• Requires local agencies to determine whether a housing site is or is not historic at the time the application is "deemed complete" under the Permit Streamlining Act. This determination would remain valid throughout the permitting process and cannot be changed other than cases where archaeological, paleontological, or tribal resources are encountered during grading or excavation.

• Prohibits "affected" cities and counties designated by the United States Census Bureau as "urbanized areas" from downzoning any parcel to a "less intensive use" than what was permitted as of Jan. 1, 2018 unless any downzoning is matched with a corresponding increase in the zoning and permitted use of other parcels in the area. The bill also prohibits local agencies from placing a moratorium or similar limitations on housing projects or enforcing an existing moratorium or limitation unless the California Department of Housing and Community Development first approves it.

According to Nancy Skinner, the bill's author, "SB 330 helps us get more housing now. We need it fast."