General plans: housing element: emergency shelter.

Senator Laird's housing legislation redefines emergency shelter requirements in California, expanding the scope of services and support that local jurisdictions must incorporate into their housing elements. The bill modifies both the Government Code and Health and Safety Code to require emergency shelters to include comprehensive onsite services while maintaining occupancy limits of six months or less for homeless individuals.

The legislation strengthens existing housing element requirements by mandating that emergency shelters adhere to specific written, objective standards. These standards address maximum occupancy, staff parking, intake areas, onsite management, proximity to other shelters, length of stay, lighting, and security measures. Local jurisdictions must identify zones where emergency shelters are permitted without conditional use permits, ensuring adequate capacity to meet demonstrated community needs.

To facilitate regional solutions, the bill allows local governments to enter agreements with up to two adjacent communities to develop shared emergency shelter facilities within two years of their planning period. These agreements must allocate shelter capacity among participating jurisdictions and detail each party's development and operational responsibilities. The legislation maintains that no individual can be denied emergency shelter access due to inability to pay, while requiring jurisdictions to document how shared facilities will meet local emergency shelter needs through their housing elements.

The Department of Housing and Community Development receives authority to develop standardized reporting formats for tracking implementation of these provisions, which local governments must adopt starting with their seventh housing element revision. If the Commission on State Mandates determines these requirements impose state-mandated costs, local agencies and school districts will be eligible for reimbursement under existing statutory procedures.