Senator Richard D. Roth (D-Riverside) joined industry leaders, workers and the authors of six major pieces of housing legislation in unveiling a collaborative effort to increase affordable housing in the State, providing much-needed relief to Californians impacted by rising housing costs and a lack of affordable housing.
Senator Roth has authored Senate Bill 540, which, by some estimates, would have one to two years off the development timeline, and would do so without compromising public health, local control or the rights of citizens to participate in local land use decisions. SB 540 strikes an important balance to preserve the protections afforded under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) while streamlining processes that currently stagnate housing construction. SB 540 is sponsored by the League of California Cities.
Senator Roth said: "I am proud to join my colleagues in the Senate and Assembly, as well as industry leaders and workers, in addressing this tremendous challenge with a unified and comprehensive approach. Access to housing is a basic human need, yet California is home to one of the most expensive housing markets in the nation, and many Californians are unable to afford to rent or own a home.
“That’s why I am proud to author SB 540, a commonsense measure that will incentivize and streamline housing construction to help solve our state’s dire housing shortage.”
Currently, housing construction projects are subject to individual environmental reviews even if they would be undertaken in the same underlying zone. This can result in costly project delays and serve as a disincentive to housing construction. SB 540 allows for a single environmental review to be completed for all projects within specific areas identified by cities and counties as Workforce Housing Zones, streamlining the environmental review process and incentivizing housing construction in these zones. Extensive environmental reviews for these zones would be conducted at the front-end, providing developers with a clear picture of the conditions for development (including traffic mitigation measures, parking requirements, design review standards and environmental mitigation).
Additional comments on SB 540 from Senator Roth can be viewed in the link below: