Housing element compliance: committed assistance: in-kind services.

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not specify the exact nature of in-kind services or how they will be funded, leaving some details open-ended.

Housing Element Compliance: In-Kind Services

The bill defines 'in-kind services' to help cities and counties provide affordable housing units through committed assistance programs.

What This Bill Does

• Defines what 'in-kind services' means in the context of providing affordable housing.

Who It Names or Affects

• Local governments (cities and counties) in California

Terms To Know

committed assistance

A legally binding agreement by a city or county to provide funds or services that help make housing units affordable for lower-income residents.

in-kind services

Services provided instead of money, such as construction work or land use changes, which can be used to meet the requirements for providing affordable housing.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify how local governments will fund these in-kind services.
• It is unclear what specific types of in-kind services will qualify under this new definition.

Official Summary Text

SB 457, as amended, Becker.
Housing element compliance: committed assistance: in-kind services.
The Planning and Zoning Law requires a city or county to adopt a comprehensive, long-term general plan that includes various mandatory elements, including a housing element. Existing law requires that the housing element, among other things, sets forth a schedule of actions during the planning period that the local government is undertaking or intends to undertake to implement the policies and achieve the goals of the housing element, as provided. Existing law authorizes the Department of Housing and Community Development to allow a city or county to substitute the provision of units pursuant to this schedule of actions if the community includes in its housing element a program committing the local government to provide specified units that will be made available through the provision of committed assistance to lower income households at affordable housing costs or rents, as defined.
Existing law requires a unit to meet specified requirements to qualify for inclusion in the program. Existing law defines “committed assistance” for these purposes to mean that the city or county enters into a legally enforceable agreement during
at
a specified time period that obligates sufficient available funds or other in-kind services to provide the assistance necessary to make the identified units affordable and that requires that the units be made available for occupancy within 2 years of the execution of the agreement.
This bill would define “in-kind services” for these purposes.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF