Papan Housing Element Reform Bill Approved by the State Assembly

• David Burruto
• District Director
• 650-349-2200
• [email protected]

Sacramento, CA - The State Assembly approved legislation by Assemblymember Diane Papan to reform California's bureaucratic housing element process to help cities and counties comply with state housing mandates.

Under California law, cities and counties must adopt housing elements that demonstrate how they will meet Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) goals. These plans are comprehensive, complex, and hyperlocal, requiring communities to balance unique local needs with extensive state requirements.

A recent State Auditor report found that the California Department of Housing and Community Development's (HCD) housing element review process often provides inconsistent and non-individualized feedback, leaving local governments with little guidance and contributing to delays in housing element certification.

"HCD has forced cities and counties to divert scarce resources to chasing shifting requirements and inconsistent feedback instead of focusing on actually catalyzing the building of homes," said Assemblymember Diane Papan.

AB 2296 seeks to improve the bureaucratic process by beginning the RHNA timeline six months earlier and staggering housing element submission deadlines within regional Councils of Government. These changes are intended to give local governments more time to work collaboratively with HCD on the front end of the process while reducing HCD workload spikes that have repeatedly delayed certifications statewide.

"The Auditor made clear that this system isn't working," Papan said. "It undermines urgently needed housing production, and this bill is an important step toward fixing the process."

By providing cities and counties with additional time and providing HCD with a more manageable review schedule, AB 2296 aims to help local governments secure timely housing element approval and move more quickly from planning to permitting housing production.

AB 2296 will next be heard in the Senate.

###