Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that requires municipalities to reserve a portion of new developments for affordable housing, and amends existing law to prohibit them from transferring this obligation to other municipalities.

Highlights:

- Replaces the use of regional contribution agreements, which allowed municipalities to transfer a portion of their affordable housing obligations to other municipalities, with new regional planning entities, which must reserve at least 20 percent of units in new housing developments within the region for affordable housing (Sec. 12, Sec. 18). - Requires regional planning entities to provide affordable housing opportunities with convenient access to infrastructure, employment opportunities, and public transportation in municipalities within each region (Sec. 18). - Requires municipalities to use their zoning powers to provide incentive to developers that propose to build affordable housing (Sec. 15). - Requires that tenants who are forced to leave affordable housing due to redevelopment be provided comparable replacement housing within the proximity of the redevelopment area and requires the construction or rehabilitation of affordable housing units for each unit removed through redevelopment plans (Sec. 2). - Requires at least 13 percent of affordable housing units to be made available to very low income households, defined as households with gross incomes of 30 percent or less of the area's median household income, to be verified at least once every three years (Sec. 7). - Imposes a fee equal to 2.5 percent of the value of the land and improvement for all new non-residential buildings or additions to those buildings (Sec. 35). - Appropriates $20 million from revenue collected from these non-residential development fees to a new Urban Housing Assistance Fund (Sec. 14).

Full Bill Text