BILL NUMBER: AB 1641CHAPTERED BILL TEXT CHAPTER 665 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 30, 2010 APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 30, 2010 PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 18, 2010 PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 19, 2010 AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 9, 2010 AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 1, 2010 AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 24, 2010 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 11, 2010 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 5, 2010 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY FEBRUARY 24, 2010 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Hall JANUARY 11, 2010 An act to amend Section 33030 of, and to add Section 33331.4 to, the Health and Safety Code, relating to redevelopment. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 1641, Hall. Redevelopment: blighted areas. The Community Redevelopment Law authorizes the establishment of redevelopment agencies in communities in order to address the effects of blight, as defined, in those communities and requires those agencies to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and to approve a redevelopment plan for each area. The Legislature has found and declared that blighted areas may include housing areas constructed as temporary government-owned wartime housing projects, which may be characterized by one or more of the physical and economic conditions that cause blight. Existing law provides that a blighted area containing specified conditions may also be characterized by the existence of inadequate public improvements or inadequate water or sewer utilities. This bill would provide that blighted areas may also be characterized by the existence of housing constructed as government-owned projects constructed prior to January 1, 1960. The bill would require a redevelopment agency undertaking activities and funding involving the described housing areas to comply with the Community Redevelopment Law, in addition to new project requirements relating to the inclusion of replacement dwelling units of all existing public housing. The bill would authorize a project in these areas to include the development of other housing, including privately owned housing units available to persons and families of low and moderate income and workforce market-rate housing units. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 33030 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read: 33030. (a) It is found and declared that there exist in many communities blighted areas that constitute physical and economic liabilities, requiring redevelopment in the interest of the health, safety, and general welfare of the people of these communities and of the state. (b) A blighted area is one that contains both of the following: (1) An area that is predominantly urbanized, as that term is defined in Section 33320.1, and is an area in which the combination of conditions set forth in Section 33031 is so prevalent and so substantial that it causes a reduction of, or lack of, proper utilization of the area to such an extent that it constitutes a serious physical and economic burden on the community that cannot reasonably be expected to be reversed or alleviated by private enterprise or governmental action, or both, without redevelopment. (2) An area that is characterized by one or more conditions set forth in any paragraph of subdivision (a) of Section 33031 and one or more conditions set forth in any paragraph of subdivision (b) of Section 33031. (c) A blighted area that contains the conditions described in subdivision (b) may also be characterized by the existence of any of the following: (1) Inadequate public improvements. (2) Inadequate water or sewer utilities. (3) Housing constructed as a government-owned project that was constructed before January 1, 1960. SEC. 2. Section 33331.4 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read: 33331.4. (a) A redevelopment agency undertaking activities and funding involving property described in paragraph (3) of subdivision (c) of Section 33030 shall comply with all of the requirements of this part, except as specifically modified in subdivision (b). (b) In addition to the requirements specified in subdivision (a), all of the following apply: (1) The project shall include the replacement, on at least a one-to-one basis, of all existing public housing units. The replacement dwelling units shall be affordable to, and occupied by, extremely low, very low, and lower income households as defined in Sections 50079.5, 50105, and 50106, respectively, at the same or lower income level as the household displaced from the public housing units, for at least 55 years. (2) The replacement dwelling units may be either publicly or privately owned and shall meet all of the following requirements: (A) Be located either inside the project area, or within a five-mile radius of the parcel containing the public housing that is being replaced. (B) Shall be, for each income level described in paragraph (1), a unit type and size as required by the displaced household. The required size shall conform to the principles for a public housing policy on occupancy, contained in the "Public Housing Occupancy Guidebook," published by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. (C) Shall be affordable to each displaced household that chooses to relocate to a replacement unit, such that the rent does not exceed 30 percent of the income of that household. (c) No household shall be displaced under this section unless they are given priority for a permanent replacement dwelling unit created pursuant to this section at the initial time of relocation. This subdivision does not apply if the household, having been given priority for a replacement dwelling unit under this part, voluntarily chooses not to accept the replacement dwelling unit. (d) The project may include both of the following: (1) The development of additional privately owned housing units that will be available to and occupied by persons and families of low or moderate income, as defined in Section 50093, including very low income households, as defined in Section 50105, at an affordable housing cost, as defined in Section 50025.5. (2) Workforce market-rate housing units, retail services, commercial, industrial, educational, recreational, and other uses as may be appropriate to serve the residents of the area, and public improvements inside or adjacent to the project area.