Planning staff briefs commission on HCD policy and practice review and five state housing laws

Planning Department staff gave an informational briefing Dec. 7 on the California Department of Housing & Community Development's (HCD) Policy & Practice Review and a set of state housing laws slated to change local review practices.

Dan Sider, the department's staff lead, summarized HCD's PPR as a 44-page document listing 28 actions (18 required) with deadlines ranging from 30 days to several years. Sider said much of the PPR derives from the mayor's executive directive and the city's housing element and warned that HCD could send corrective-action letters and, if deadlines were not met, decertify the city's housing element.

Kate Connor then reviewed five state measures with likely local effect: AB 2011 (ministerial program for certain office-to-housing conversions and a 100% affordable ministerial pathway), SB 423 (an extension and expansion of SB 35 ministerial pathways), SB 4 (ministerial approvals for certain nonprofit or institutional 100% affordable projects), AB 1287 (an additional density-bonus mechanism), and AB 1114 (a new law defining post-entitlement permits and imposing tight timelines for completeness determinations and agency review).

Connor detailed how the bills expand ministerial review in many locations, require objective standards, institute labor and tribal-notification requirements and limit discretionary appeals for post-entitlement permits. For example, AB 1114 requires a 15-business-day completeness determination and 30'60 business-day concurrent review timelines depending on project size; failure to meet those timelines may result in deemed-complete determinations.

Public commenters and several commissioners raised concerns about equity, displacement risk in the city's priority-equity geographies, and how to preserve local voter-enacted protections (e.g., Prop M and other measures). Community groups asked how neighborhoods would be noticed for SB 423 informational hearings and whether sponsors would be required to engage local community organizations. Speakers representing tenants, neighborhood coalitions and Livable City urged ongoing local safeguards and emphasized the need for additional affordable units, infrastructure planning, and monitoring of cumulative effects.

Commissioners told staff to prioritize implementation planning, including interagency coordination (Public Works, DBI, Fire, PUC) and digital systems to enable concurrent review. Staff said the permit center and a new digital triage system will support the concurrent review model required by AB 1114 and that the department is developing bulletins and application materials for ministerial programs. The city intends to publish implementation bulletins for SB 4/23 and SB 4 and to update guidance and applications by January 1, 2024.

Commissioners also requested ongoing monitoring and a public dashboard to track entitlements, permits and construction to measure whether entitlements translate into built housing and to assess impacts on infrastructure, displacement and neighborhood livability.