Larry Klein
Mayor
Murali Srinivasan
Vice Mayor
Russ Melton
Councilmember
Alysa Cisneros
Councilmember
Omar Din
Councilmember
Richard Mehlinger
Councilmember
Linda Sell
Councilmember
May 15, 2024
The Honorable Evan Low
Member, California State Assembly
P.O. Box 942849
Sacramento, CA 95814
RE: AB 1886 (Alvarez) Housing Element Law: Substantial Compliance – OPPOSE (As Amended on April 15, 2024)
Dear Assemblymember Low:
On behalf of the City of Sunnyvale, we respectfully request your opposition of AB 1886 (Alvarez), because it renounces a fundamental provision of housing element law:
A city may disagree with Department of Housing and Community Development HCD; explain why its housing element is in substantial compliance with the law; and then adopt that housing element which is thereafter considered “in substantial compliance with housing element law.”
For decades, cities including Sunnyvale have worked with HCD in good faith to draft housing plans that accommodate their fair share of housing at all income levels. These extensive and complex plans can take years to develop, include public involvement and engagement, and environmental review. Cities go to great lengths to ensure that their housing element substantially complies with the law, even if HCD disagrees. Current law acknowledges this fact by allowing cities to “self-certify” their housing element or take the issue to court and have a judge make the final determination of substantial compliance.
AB 1886 encourages “builder’s remedy” projects by eliminating self-certification for the purpose of what it means to have a housing element “in substantial compliance with the law.” The “builder’s remedy” allows a developer to choose any site other than a site that is identified for very low-, low-, or moderate-income housing, and construct a project that is inconsistent with both the city’s general plan and zoning. AB 1886 facilitates such projects for those cities that have a good faith disagreement based in substantial evidence.
Attachment 5
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The Honorable Evan Low, State Assembly
May 15, 2024
The City of Sunnyvale’s 2023-2031 Housing Element update process began in August 2021. Our extensive process included four public drafts, over twenty public meetings, four HCD findings letters, numerous meetings with HCD staff, and hundreds of hours of City staff and consultant time. Even with the assistance of experienced housing element consultants, the certification process is opaque, subjective, and inconsistent.
HCD’s findings letters are often ambiguous and incomplete. New findings emerge during the review process that move the goal posts for certification further and further.
For example, HCD included new findings about the City’s fees in their second findings letter that could have been addressed earlier if the City had been informed in the first letter. This practice is inefficient and delays housing element certification at no fault of the jurisdiction.
After over two years of work, in November 2023, the City finally received a letter of conditional certification from HCD. In February 2024, however, HCD found that the City’s Housing Element was not in substantial compliance due to a single inconsequential error in a City ordinance. The City quickly corrected this honest mistake, but it nevertheless delayed certification of our Housing Element by yet another month. AB 1886 would allow “builder’s remedy” projects to circumvent cities’ general plans by taking advantage of these kinds of honest mistakes and inefficiencies in the certification process.
As identified in the City of Sunnyvale’s Legislative Advocacy Position 5(D), the City encourages “the State government to create policies that balance increased housing production for all income levels while preserving land use policy making for cities that accommodate their share of new housing.” As such, the City strongly supports the State’s increased housing production goals, but unfortunately, AB 1886 veers away from this goal by penalizing cities that are, in many cases, simply caught in a certification process that is increasingly lengthy and unclear. What is really needed is for HCD to partner with cities to provide meaningful direction that helps them finalize their housing elements and put those plans to work so that much needed housing construction can occur.
For these reasons, we request your opposition of AB 1886 (Alvarez). Please do not hesitate to contact me or Trudi Ryan, Community Development Director, [email protected], if you have any questions.
Attachment 5
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The Honorable Evan Low, State Assembly
May 15, 2024
Sincerely,
Larry Klein
Mayor
cc: The Honorable Gavin Newsom, Governor
The Honorable Josh Becker, State Senate
The Honorable Aisha Wahab, State Senate
The Honorable David A. Alvarez, State Assembly
City Council
Kent Steffens, City Manager
Sarah Johnson-Rios, Assistant City Manager
Trudi Ryan, Director of Community Development
Seth Miller, Regional Public Affairs Manager (via email: [email protected]) League of California Cities (via email: [email protected])
Attachment 5
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