Planning and zoning: housing elements: affirmatively furthering fair housing.

Assembly Member Mark González's housing legislation introduces comprehensive changes to California's fair housing requirements, fundamentally reshaping how local governments plan and distribute affordable housing across their communities. The bill requires cities and counties to conduct detailed fair housing assessments that examine patterns of segregation, access to opportunities, and housing needs for protected classes.

Under the new requirements, local governments must make draft housing assessments publicly available for at least 90 days of community input. These assessments will analyze integration patterns, areas of concentrated poverty and affluence, disparities in access to resources, and disproportionate housing needs among protected classes. The Department of Housing and Community Development will develop an online tool by April 2027 to evaluate whether jurisdictions' housing site selections promote fair housing by reducing residential segregation.

The legislation modifies how local governments can count accessory dwelling units (ADUs) toward their affordable housing requirements. ADUs may only be counted in lower-income categories if they have recorded deed restrictions maintaining affordability for at least 55 years for rentals and 30 years for ownership units. Sites identified for housing must be distributed throughout communities in a way that reduces segregation, with higher-income areas accommodating their proportional share.

Local governments that fail to identify adequate sites or meet fair housing criteria must complete rezoning within specified timeframes - generally one to three years depending on when they adopt their housing element. The bill includes provisions for judicial enforcement if jurisdictions do not comply with these requirements. While imposing new mandates on local governments, the legislation allows jurisdictions to levy fees to cover implementation costs rather than requiring state reimbursement.