SB 9-The Californis Home Act

Senate Bill 9 is the product of a multi-year effort to develop solutions to address our state’s housing crisis. The Senate Housing Package of bills, ‘Building Opportunities for All,’ establishes opportunities to make real progressive and positive changes in our communities to strengthen the fabric of our neighborhoods with equity, inclusivity, and affordability.

• Provides options for homeowners to build intergenerational wealth. SB 9 provides more options for families to maintain and build intergenerational wealth a currency we know is crucial to combatting inequity and creating social mobility. The families who own these properties could provide affordable rental opportunities for other working families who may be struggling to find a rental home in their price range, or who may be looking for their own path to home ownership.
• Benefits homeowners NOT institutional investors. Recent amendments require a local agency to impose an owner occupancy requirement as a condition of a homeowner receiving a ministerial lot split. This bill also prohibits the development of small subdivisions and prohibits ministerial lot splits on adjacent parcels by the same individual to prevent investor speculation. In fact, allowing for more neighborhood scale housing in California’s communities actually curbs the market power of institutional investors. SB 9 prevents profiteers from evicting or displacing tenants by excluding properties where a tenant has resided in the past three years.
• Establishes a maximum number of units. Recent amendments clarify that this bill would allow no more than four units on what is currently a single-family parcel.
• Preserves historic neighborhoods. SB 9 excludes historic and landmark districts.
• Respects local control. Homeowners must comply with local zoning requirements when developing a duplex (height, floor area ratios, lot coverage etc.) as long as they do not physically preclude a lot split or duplex. This bill also allows locals to require a percolation test for any duplex proposed to be on septic tanks.
• Promotes strategic infill growth. Under this bill, the parcel must be located in a jurisdiction that is part of an urbanized area or urban cluster, as designated by the US Census. This means that it applies only to areas that meet certain population and density thresholds. It excludes the provisions of the bill being used in very high fire hazard severity zones, prime agriculture land, hazardous waste sites, earthquake zones, floodplains that do not have adequate mitigation, and others. At the end of the day, if local governments do not allow people to build homes in an area, then the bill does not apply.

What this bill does: Senate Bill 9 – the California Housing Opportunity and More Efficiency (HOME) Act streamlines the process for a homeowner to create a duplex or subdivide an existing lot. Any new housing created as a result of this bill must meet a specific list of qualifications that protects historic districts, preserves environmental quality and the look of communities, and prevents tenants from being displaced. This legislation will enable homeowners to create intergenerational wealth, and provide access to more rental and ownership options for working families who would otherwise be priced out of neighborhoods.