AB 11: The Social Housing Act.
The proposed law aims to create the California Housing Authority as an independent state body to ensure social housing developments align with regional housing needs and preserve affordable housing. The authority will have a mission to eliminate the gap between housing production and regional housing needs assessment targets. It will define social housing, including housing owned by the authority and other entities, and prescribe its composition, powers, and duties. The authority will prepare and submit an annual business plan to the governor and legislature, and conduct regular audits of its accounts and records. It will prioritize the development of vacant parcels and parcels near transit, and determine required social housing units annually. Social housing will accommodate a mix of household income ranges and provide specified protections for residents. The authority will employ two…
| Jun. 26, 2025 | In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author. |
| Jun. 26, 2025 | In committee: Hearing postponed by committee. |
| Jun. 11, 2025 | Referred to Coms. on HOUSING and G.O. |
| Jun. 03, 2025 | In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. |
| Jun. 02, 2025 | Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 47. Noes 20. Page 1928.) |
| Introduced by Assembly Member Lee |
December 02, 2024 |
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:SEC. 2.
Title 6.91 (commencing with Section 64900) is added to the Government Code, to read:TITLE 6.91. THE SOCIAL HOUSING ACT
PART 1. General Provisions
CHAPTER 1. Title
64900.
This title shall be known, and may be cited, as the Social Housing Act.CHAPTER 2. Definitions
64901.
Unless the context demands otherwise, the definitions provided by this chapter shall apply to this title.64902.
“Above moderate income” means income for households that exceeds the moderate-income level, as described in Section 50093 of the Health and Safety Code.64903.
“Area median income” means area median income as published by the Department of Housing and Community Development pursuant to Section 50093 of the Health and Safety Code.64904.
“Authority” or “CHA” means the California Housing Authority, an independent state body established by this title for the purpose of developing social housing for all California residents.64905.
“Board” means the California Housing Authority Board.64906.
“Cost rent” means a system in which the rent of a dwelling is calculated on the cost of providing for and maintaining the dwelling, only allowing for limited or no proceeds.64907.
“Extremely low income” means income that does not exceed the qualifying limits for extremely low income households, as described in Section 50106 of the Health and Safety Code.64908.
“Limited equity arrangement” means an ownership model in which residents are extended a long-term lease of a unit, take out a subsidized leasehold mortgage on the property from the authority, make monthly mortgage payments, and commit to resell at a price determined by a formula designed to balance ongoing affordability and resident wealth generation.64909.
“Low income” means income for households that does not exceed the qualifying limits for lower income households, as described in Section 50079.5 of the Health and Safety Code.64910.
“Moderate income” means income for households of low or moderate income whose income exceeds the income limit for lower income households, as described in Section 50093 of the Health and Safety Code.64911.
“Multifamily property” means a collection of units featuring extremely low income, very low income, low-income, moderate-income, and above moderate-income units. A multifamily property may be a single building, multiple buildings on the same or adjacent parcels, or multiple buildings across several blocks within a single jurisdiction, or as may be defined by the authority.64912.
“Regional housing needs assessment” or “RHNA” means a representation of housing needs for all income levels in a jurisdiction pursuant to Article 10.6 (commencing with Section 65580) of Chapter 3 of Division 1 of Title 7.64913.
“Rent and mortgage cross-subsidization” means a system in which the below-cost rents and leasehold mortgages of certain units are balanced by above-cost payments on other units within the same multiunit property so as to ensure the property’s overall revenue meets development and operational costs.64914.
“Revenue neutrality” means a system in which all monetary expenditures that result from the development and operation of social housing owned by the authority are returned to the authority through rents, payments on leasehold mortgages, or other subsidies, to further the maintenance and development of more social housing units.64915.
“Social housing” means housing with the following characteristics:64916.
“Very low income” means income that does not exceed the qualifying limits for very low income households, as described in Section 50105 of the Health and Safety Code.64917.
“Underutilized parcel” means a parcel of property upon which is built a structure that contains fewer units than the maximum number of units permissible under local zoning regulations.PART 2. California Housing Authority
CHAPTER 1. Creation, Powers, and Duties
Article 1. Creation
64920.
(a) The California Housing Authority is hereby created. The authority shall be governed by the California Housing Authority Board.Article 2. Powers
64921.
The authority shall have the following general powers:Article 3. Duties
64922.
(a) The authority shall implement and advise on the social housing program, as prescribed by Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 64933), and is hereby granted all powers necessary for this purpose.64923.
(a) The authority shall prepare, publish, adopt, and submit to the Governor and the Legislature an annual business plan. At least 60 days prior to the publication of the plan, the authority shall publish a draft business plan for public review and comment. The draft plan shall also be submitted to the Governor and the Legislature.CHAPTER 2. California Housing Authority Governance
Article 1. Formation and Structure of Governing Board
64924.
(a) The board shall be composed of all of the following:64925.
All board decisions shall be approved by majority vote.64926.
The board shall select a board chair, who may hold special powers as determined by members of the board.64927.
The board is a state body for purposes of the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act (Article 9 (commencing with Section 11120) of Chapter 1 of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2).Article 2. Board Powers and Duties
64928.
The duties of the board include, but are not limited to, all of the following:64929.
The executive officer of the board shall have all of the following powers and duties:Article 3. Resident Governance Councils
64930.
Each multifamily social housing development owned by the authority shall form a governance council, which shall include residents in both rental and ownership model properties. The governance council shall be made up of no more than 10 percent of the overall population of the multifamily development. The authority shall establish appropriate size limitations for governance councils based on the size of the developments that they represent.64931.
An authority multifamily social housing development governance council shall have the following powers and responsibilities:64932.
A multifamily social housing development governance council and the board may consult with outside parties with appropriate experience for the purpose of establishing managerial policies and practices that align with the requirements of affordable housing and the need to provide suitable tenant protections.CHAPTER 3. Social Housing Program
Article 1. Program Design
64933.
(a) In all its operations, the authority shall seek to achieve revenue neutrality over the long term. The authority shall seek to recuperate the cost of development and operations over the life of its properties through the mechanisms that maximize the number of Californians who can be housed without experiencing rent burden, such as rent cross-subsidization or cost rent.64934.
The authority shall make an annual determination of the required amount of social housing units to be produced in the following manner:64935.
(a) In creating social housing, the authority shall employ two different leasing models, the rental model and the ownership model, consistent with the requirements of this title.64936.
Applicants to be residents and continuing residents shall meet all of the following eligibility requirements, as may be applicable to them:64937.
(a) Subject to the requirements of subdivision (b), the authority shall use a lottery to select social housing residents from all qualifying applicants. The lottery shall be structured by income categories and shall provide separate selection results for each category.Article 2. Production of Housing
64938.
(a) The authority is authorized to contract with qualified entities, in accordance with the authority’s plan to meet its goals, to conduct ground-up construction and rehabilitation of existing structures.64939.
(a) The authority shall accept a local jurisdiction’s preference for a project parcel if all of the following conditions are met:Article 3. Acquisition
64941.
The authority may acquire, reacquire, or contract to acquire or reacquire by grant or purchase real, personal, or mixed property or any interest therein and own, hold, clear, improve, rehabilitate, sell, assign, exchange, transfer, or otherwise dispose of or encumber the same.64942.
The authority shall prioritize acquiring or reacquiring property with all of the following characteristics:CHAPTER 4. Funding
64943.
The activities of the authority shall be conducted with a goal to cover its costs over the long term in accordance with the principle of revenue neutrality.64944.
The Social Housing Revolving Loan Fund is hereby established within the State Treasury to be used, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to provide zero-interest loans for the purpose of constructing housing to accommodate a mix of household incomes.64945.
(a) It is the intent of the Legislature to enact subsequent legislation to provide financing for the activities of the authority through the issuance of general obligation bonds.64946.
The authority may, upon appropriation by the Legislature, utilize funds from other legislation, cities and counties, or other sources, in order to build more low-, very low, and extremely low income housing.