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SB-502 • 2026

Local education agency-owned land: development of affordable housing.

Local education agency-owned land: development of affordable housing.

Budget Education Housing Labor
Passed Legislature

This bill passed both chambers and reached final enrollment, even if later executive action is not shown here.

Sponsor
Arreguín
Last action
2026-02-02
Official status
Returned to Secretary of Senate pursuant to Joint Rule 56.
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

The bill summary does not mention a specific right of first refusal for school district employees or local tenants, only that suitable land will be made publicly available through an inventory.

Local Education Agency Land for Affordable Housing

This law allows school districts to submit their extra land to the Department of Housing and Community Development for review as potential sites for affordable housing, and provides funding for development.

What This Bill Does

  • Allows local education agencies (like schools) to give a list of extra land they own to the Department of Housing and Community Development for checking if it can be used for building affordable housing.
  • Requires the Department of Housing and Community Development, with help from the Department of General Services, to check if school district land is good for building affordable homes.
  • Makes sure that any suitable school district land for affordable housing is listed in a public inventory so people who want to build affordable homes can see it.
  • Gives local education agencies money from the Building Homes and Jobs Trust Fund to help them build low- to moderate-income housing on their land.

Who It Names or Affects

  • Local education agencies (like schools) who own extra land.
  • People interested in building affordable homes.
  • School district employees and local tenants looking for affordable housing.

Terms To Know

Department of Housing and Community Development
A state agency that helps with housing policies and programs.
Building Homes and Jobs Trust Fund
A fund used to provide money for building affordable homes in California.

Limits and Unknowns

  • The bill does not specify when the law will start or how long it will last.
  • It is unclear if all local education agencies will have extra land available for this purpose.

Bill History

  1. 2026-02-02 California Legislative Information

    Returned to Secretary of Senate pursuant to Joint Rule 56.

  2. 2025-05-23 California Legislative Information

    May 23 hearing: Held in committee and under submission.

  3. 2025-05-16 California Legislative Information

    Set for hearing May 23.

  4. 2025-05-12 California Legislative Information

    May 12 hearing: Placed on APPR. suspense file.

  5. 2025-05-02 California Legislative Information

    Set for hearing May 12.

  6. 2025-04-28 California Legislative Information

    Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

  7. 2025-04-28 California Legislative Information

    Withdrawn from committee.

  8. 2025-04-24 California Legislative Information

    Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on ED.

  9. 2025-04-23 California Legislative Information

    From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on ED. (Ayes 9. Noes 1. Page 831.) (April 22).

  10. 2025-04-04 California Legislative Information

    Set for hearing April 22.

  11. 2025-03-26 California Legislative Information

    April 1 set for first hearing canceled at the request of author.

  12. 2025-03-25 California Legislative Information

    Set for hearing April 1.

  13. 2025-02-26 California Legislative Information

    Referred to Coms. on HOUSING and ED.

  14. 2025-02-20 California Legislative Information

    From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 22.

  15. 2025-02-19 California Legislative Information

    Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print.

Official Summary Text

SB 502, as amended, Arreguín.
Building Homes and Jobs Trust Fund: allocations.
Local education agency-owned land: development of affordable housing.
Existing law establishes the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) in the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency for purposes of carrying out state housing policies and programs. Existing law prescribes requirements for the disposal of surplus land by a local agency, as defined, and requires, except as provided, a local agency disposing of surplus land to comply with certain notice requirements before disposing of the land or participating in negotiations to dispose of the land with a prospective transferee, particularly that the local agency send a notice of availability to housing sponsors, as defined, that have notified HCD of their interest in surplus land, as specified.
Existing law establishes the Department of General Services (DGS)
in the Government Operations Agency for purposes of, among other things, planning, acquiring, constructing, and maintaining state buildings and property. Executive Order No. N-06-19 required DGS to create a digitized inventory of all state-owned parcels that are in excess of foreseeable needs, as provided. Existing law required DGS to develop, in consultation with HCD, no later than September 1, 2023, a set of criteria to consistently evaluate state-owned parcels for suitability as affordable housing sites. Existing law requires DGS to update the digitized inventory of all excess state land suitable for affordable housing after the conclusion of its review based on those criteria. Existing law also requires DGS to annually update the digitized inventory created pursuant to Executive Order No. N-06-19 of all excess state land, as defined, suitable for affordable housing identified by its review.
This bill would authorize a local education agency to submit a list of
any available local education agency-owned land to HCD for purposes of determining the suitability for development of affordable housing. The bill would require HCD, in consultation with DGS, to conduct a review of the local education agency-owned land and determine the suitability of the land for the development of affordable housing, consistent with the above-described criteria. The bill would require any local education agency-owned land determined to be suitable for the development of affordable housing to be made publicly available through the digitized inventory created pursuant to Executive Order No. N-06-19 and the above-described contact list of housing sponsors that have notified HCD of their interest in surplus land. The bill would require that an affordable housing development constructed on local education agency-owned land determined to be suitable for the development of affordable housing to provide school district employees and local tenants with a right of first refusal to occupy the
housing, as specified.
Existing law establishes the Building Homes and Jobs Act for the purpose of establishing permanent, ongoing sources of funding dedicated to affordable housing development, and creates the Building Homes and Jobs Trust Fund within the State Treasury. Existing law requires, upon appropriation by the Legislature and except as provided, for moneys collected on and after January 1, 2019, that 20% of the moneys deposited in the fund be expended for affordable owner-occupied workforce housing, and 30% be made available to the Department of Housing and Community Development for specified purposes, including a continuous appropriation of 15% of those moneys to the California Housing Finance Agency for the purpose of creating mixed-income multifamily residential housing for lower to moderate-income households, as provided.
This bill, for moneys
collected on and after January 1, 2019, would instead require that 20% of the moneys deposited in the fund be expended for affordable owner-occupied workforce housing or for local educational agencies to build low- to moderate-income workforce housing. The bill would reduce the continuous appropriation to the California Housing Finance Agency to 10% of the moneys deposited in the fund, and would require 5% of the moneys deposited in the fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to be made available to the Department of Housing and Community Development for a zero-interest revolving loan fund to pay for development and predevelopment costs incurred by local education agencies to build low- to moderate-income multifamily workforce housing.

Current Bill Text

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