The Affordable Homes Bonus Law - AB 2433
The Affordable Homes Bonus Law will modernize California’s Bonus Law to create more affordable homes. The bill is authored by Assemblymember David Alvarez.
Support the Bill!
Interested in supporting the bill? Organizations and individuals can sign on as a supporter here.
Additional Resources
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- Full text of AB 2433
- AB 2433 Fact Sheet
- Submit a letter of support to the California State Legislature portal using this downloadable template.
- Learn more about Bonus Law
- Contact Aria Grossman at [email protected] with questions.
Bill Details
This bill will boost homeownership, create more affordable homes, and streamline housing approvals.
Boost Homeownership
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- Create More For-Sale Affordable Homes: Grants two additional incentives for homebuilders with projects that deed-restrict for-sale units for low- and moderate-income families.
More Affordable Homes
The purpose of Bonus Law is to create more affordable Homes. AB 2433 will further strengthen that goal through a variety of modernizations.
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- Deeply Affordable Housing:This bill will ensure that 100 percent affordable homebuilders can use the full stacked bonus available under AB 1287. This better harmonizes this program with existing obligations tied to public subsidies and local inclusionary requirements.
- Name Update: Change the program name to the “Affordable Homes Bonus Law” to better reflect the law’s core purpose of creating affordable homes, improving clarity for homebuilders, local governments, and advocates.
Streamline Housing Approvals
Bonus Law is already highly used and highly effective. AB 2433 will build on this success to help approve even more affordable homes throughout California.
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- Floor Area Ratio (FAR) Fix: Allow density bonus percentage to be calculated using FAR for local governments that rely on FAR.
- Automatic Benefit Structure: Require local governments to treat every project with sufficient on-site affordable units as qualifying for the benefits of Bonus Law. Currently, a substantial percentage of projects that should receive these benefits are not opting into the program.
- Reaffirming Non-Discretionary Approval of Benefits: Explicitly affirm that the granting of incentives and waivers under Bonus Law are not discretionary. Some jurisdictions are not following the current law, and treat the award of these incentives as discretionary actions, which can significantly slow projects.
- One Application Rule: Clarify that Bonus Law projects receive certainty after their initial application, even if additional permit applications are submitted later in the process. This prevents approved projects being re-ligated at subsequent phases.
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By-Right Approval: Require that environmentally friendly infill projects that include affordable homes are approved by-right. Projects with for-sale units would also have map approvals by-right.
What is California Bonus Law?
California Density Bonus Law (Government Code Section 65915 or “Bonus Law”), is a statewide policy that streamlines housing approvals by granting a variety of benefits to projects that include deed-restricted affordable units. When a project contains a certain percentage affordable homes, builders qualify for a "bonus", allowing them to build more overall units. Homebuilders can also qualify for incentives and waivers from local zoning restrictions. These benefits operate at a sliding scale, meaning projects with more affordable homes qualify for more benefits. Bonus Law has been a uniquely successful tool to unlock approvals for more affordable and market rate homes without relying on public subsidy.
The proof is in the numbers. Bonus Law has been used to entitle over 140,000 new homes across California over the past five years, making it the state's most utilized program to streamline housing approvals.
Sponsors
