Housing development: density bonuses.

Senator Blakespear's housing density bonus legislation refines California's existing framework for incentivizing affordable housing development by establishing new limitations on commercial space and clarifying rules around transient lodging in qualifying projects.

The bill modifies the state's Density Bonus Law by capping the commercial floor area ratio at 2.5 times the base zone allowance for projects receiving development concessions or incentives. This provision applies to new applications submitted after January 1, 2026. Additionally, the legislation explicitly states that local governments are not required to approve or grant concessions for hotels, motels, bed and breakfast inns, or other transient lodging as part of qualifying housing developments, except for residential hotels serving as permanent housing.

These targeted amendments aim to preserve the law's core purpose of facilitating affordable housing construction while preventing unintended expansion of commercial and temporary lodging uses through density bonus provisions. The changes maintain existing requirements for developers to include specified percentages of affordable units to receive density increases and other development incentives, with those units remaining affordable for at least 55 years through recorded restrictions.