Existing law, the Planning and Zoning Law, requires a city or county to adopt a general plan for land use development within its boundaries that includes, among other things, a housing element. The housing element is required to be updated at specified intervals, and, when updating the housing element, the local government is required to take into account regional housing needs for various income levels, as specified. Existing law requires the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) to determine whether the housing element is in substantial compliance with specified provisions of the Planning and Zoning Law, and requires HCD to designate jurisdictions as prohousing, as prescribed.
This bill would state the intent of the legislature to enact subsequent legislation that would authorize a housing forward jurisdiction, defined to mean a city, county, or city and county that is designated as a prohousing jurisdiction by HCD and has met or exceeded its regional housing needs allocation, to impose certain conditions on development projects.