Planning and zoning: housing element: converted affordable housing units.

Assembly Member Quirk-Silva's housing legislation expands California's annual housing development reporting requirements while creating a pathway for local jurisdictions to count certain converted affordable housing units toward their regional housing needs obligations. Beginning April 2027, planning agencies must provide more detailed information about housing demolitions, replacement units, and relocation assistance in their mandatory reports to state housing authorities.

The bill establishes criteria for counting existing multifamily units that are converted to deed-restricted affordable housing, allowing jurisdictions to apply these units toward up to 25 percent of their low-income housing allocation requirements. To qualify, converted units must not have had prior affordability restrictions and must be bound by new 55-year covenants ensuring availability to households across various low-income categories. The requirements include protections for current residents against income-based eviction, temporary relocation assistance during rehabilitation, and ongoing monitoring to verify continued affordability compliance.

Local agencies must separately track converted units by income category - acutely low, extremely low, very low, and low income - while clearly distinguishing them from newly constructed affordable housing in annual reports. The Department of Housing and Community Development maintains authority to review reports, request corrections within 90 days, and reject submissions that fail to meet compliance standards. Courts may order jurisdictions to remedy non-compliant reports and impose sanctions for continued deficiencies.

The legislation's implementation depends partly on the enactment of a related bill (AB 726) - if both bills pass before January 2026, additional provisions will take effect allowing jurisdictions to count substantially rehabilitated existing deed-restricted units that meet specific cost thresholds. The Department must post all compliant annual reports on its website for public access.