Housing element: governmental constraints: disclosure statement.

Assembly Member Alvarez steers a measure that weaves housing policy and transparency together by requiring the next round of housing-element updates to include a disclosure statement of new or amended governmental constraints adopted after the prior due date and before the current draft, as well as any constraints the governing body anticipates adopting during the first three years of the planning period. The author frames this as addressing a statewide concern and ensures the provision applies to all cities, including charter cities.

The bill preserves the core housing-element framework—identifying housing needs, inventorying land, and specifying goals, policies, and programs—but adds a focused, formal disclosure obligation. The analysis would must identify each new or amended governmental constraint adopted after the previous due date and before submittal of the current draft, and it would also identify constraints anticipated to be adopted in the first three years of the planning period. The disclosure includes the nature of the constraint and the anticipated timing, allowing the department and the public to gauge how emerging rules may affect the jurisdiction’s ability to meet its regional housing need. The bill also requires consideration of nongovernmental constraints, including financing, land costs, and permitting times, and directs the program to address constraints to housing for persons with disabilities and special housing needs. In addition, the bill specifies that changes must be integrated with objectives for affirmatively furthering fair housing and the plan’s energy-conservation and housing-preservation components, and it notes that the standard reporting format for these components shall be developed and used in revisions.

A central feature expands emergency-shelter planning and zoning through objective, written standards and by-right zoning where shelters are permitted. The housing element must identify zoning designations that can accommodate at least one year-round emergency shelter, with capacity calculated by site area, using a benchmark of 200 square feet per person unless a jurisdiction can justify more or fewer square feet. The standards cover beds or persons served, staff parking, waiting and intake areas, onsite management, proximity to other shelters (not more than 300 feet apart), length of stay, lighting, and security during operation. The proposal also permits multijurisdictional agreements among up to two neighboring communities to develop at least one year-round shelter within the planning period, with capacity credits allocated to each jurisdiction and clarity on each jurisdiction’s contributions. If a site inventory does not identify adequate capacity, the program requires access to rezoning opportunities within specified timelines, with phased deadlines that can extend under defined conditions related to density milestones, infrastructure, or broader planning revisions.

Implementation and context provisions address how these changes would operate in practice. The bill contemplates the department developing a standardized reporting format to capture timelines, responsible parties, budgeted resources, action areas, and potential impacts for fair-housing efforts and shelter planning, with the format to be used in future revisions. It also provides that amendments to housing-element content would follow specified trigger points and procedural timelines, and it links operative provisions to other related measures under certain conditions. Taken together, the provisions expand the information basis for housing planning, tighten timing and accountability around constraints and shelter capacity, and situate housing and shelter decisions more clearly within a statewide framework for planning, fair housing, and resource use.