STAFF REPORT
City of Lancaster
CC 8
5/7/2024
JC
Date: May 7, 2024
To: Mayor Parris and City Council Members
From: Andrea Alexander, City Clerk
Larissa De La Cruz, Director-Community Development
Patti Garibay, Assistant Director-CD Planning & Permitting Subject: Ordinance Reducing Minimum Floor Area of Efficiency Units in Limited Circumstances
Recommendation:
Adopt Ordinance No. 1116, authorizing, under Califorina Health and Safety Code section 17958.1, minimum floor area of 150 square feet for efficiency units that meet certain requirements to facilitate Project Homekey units.
Fiscal Impact:
None.
Background:
Project Homekey is a state-run program to convert hotel and motel rooms and other existing buildings to permanent supportive housing for unhoused persons. These converted hotel and motel rooms are intended to qualify as “efficiency units,” as that term is defined under California Health and Safety Code section 17958.1(b).
State law authorizes the City to reduce the minimum floor area of an efficiency unit to as low as 150 square feet. (Health & Saf. Code Section 17958.1(A).) The City desires to exercise its authority under this section to set the minimum floor area for the efficiency units to 150 square feet, inclusive of any partial kitchen, close, or bathroom facilities, in certain limited circumstances to facilitate Project Homekey.
The reduced minimum floor area only applies to an efficiency unity that: (1) is created by converting an existing guest room that was legally established as part of a hotel or motel commercial use before January 1, 1960; and (2) is used only for permanent supportive housing, as acknowledged by a recorded restrictive covenant in a form acceptable to the City and approved by the City Attorney.
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At the Lancaster City Council Meeting held on March 26, 2024, the City Council approved the introduction of Ordinance No. 1116, authorizing, under Calfiornia Health and Safety Code section 17958.1, a minimum floor area of 150 square feet for efficiency units that meet certain requirements to facilitate Project Homekey units, by the following votes: 5-0-0-0; AYES:
Hughes-Leslie, Malhi, Mann, Crist, Parris; NOES: None; ABSTAIN: None; ABSENT: None.
Attachment:
Ordinance No. 1116