Focus

HUD files proposed rule aimed at reducing housing segregation

The Hill – January 20

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has filed a proposal for a new rule to push local communities to take steps to address housing segregation. HUD said in a release that the rule, announced last Thursday, would require municipalities, states, and public housing agencies to set goals for fair housing issues facing their communities, in accordance with the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing mandate of the 1968 Fair Housing Act. The proposal will undergo a public comment period once it is published in the Federal Register.

News

L.A. City Council votes to dramatically expand tenant protections ahead of deadline

Los Angeles Times – January 20

The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously last Friday to dramatically expand protections for renters, heading off what advocates had feared could become a wave of evictions. The vote comes just 11 days before the city’s long-standing COVID-19 anti-eviction rules were set to expire. The new policy is expected to go into effect before the January 31 deadline. The new policy will be particularly significant for tenants who live in apartments that don’t fall under the city’s rent stabilization ordinance, which generally applies only to apartments built before October 1978.

Preliminary approval of San Francisco Housing Element

San Francisco Chronicle – January 23

State housing officials have given preliminary approval to San Francisco’s Housing Element, an eight-year plan to produce 82,000 residential units that the Board of Supervisors unanimously adopted on Tuesday. In a letter to the San Francisco Planning Department, the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) wrote that the latest draft of the Housing Element “meets the statutory requirements” set forth in state housing laws.

As we previously reported, the January 31, 2023 deadline for Housing Element compliance is rapidly approaching for Bay Area jurisdictions, including San Francisco.

Report finds impact of SB 9 “has been limited”

The Real Deal – January 19

One year after the implementation of Senate Bill 9 (SB 9), the signature state housing law that allows homeowners to split their lots and build duplexes, “the impact … has been limited,” according to a report published last Wednesday by the Terner Center, the UC Berkeley housing policy research group. The group analyzed 13 cities across the state where it had previously determined SB 9 usage would make the most financial sense for property owners, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, and Long Beach. But so far — and it is still early into the SB 9 era — property owners are barely using the controversial development tool.

As discussed in our recent alert, SB 9 aims to incrementally expand the supply of small-scale housing developments by allowing for the approval of duplexes and two-lot subdivisions on qualifying properties without review under the California Environmental Quality Act.

El Segundo to revamp zoning rules for its downtown

Urbanize Los Angeles – January 18

For the first time in more than 20 years, El Segundo is taking steps to update its Downtown Specific Plan, potentially paving the way for taller buildings in the city that brands itself as “Mayberry by the Sea.” Altogether, the zoning rules proposed by the specific plan update could accommodate up to 130,000 square feet of new retail and restaurant uses, 200,000 square feet of new office space, 24,000 square feet of medical offices, and an additional 300 residential units. The update, currently in the environmental review phase, is slated to be adopted sometime in the summer of 2023.

Berkeley approves housing plan, with pledge to upzone wealthy neighborhoods

Berkeleyside – January 19

The Berkeley City Council approved an eight-year housing plan last Wednesday that commits to rezoning several major streets in an effort to encourage denser development in some of the city’s wealthiest neighborhoods. Regulators with the state Department of Housing and Community Development are now reviewing the plan, known as a Housing Element, to decide whether the document constitutes a realistic and legal roadmap for how Berkeley will add at least 8,934 new homes by 2031.

*This article may require a subscription to read.

[View source.]