Circulate San Diego submitted a letter supporting AB 571, which would disallow cities from charging development impact fees for affordable units constructed pursuant to California’s Density Bonus Law. This change would incentivize affordable housing production by reducing the cost of its construction.
Local governments frequently charge development impact fees (DIFs) to offset the costs associated with accommodating more development. Growing criticism from housing advocates argue that high fees have the consequence of deterring more production of both market-rate and deed-restricted homes. In response to these concerns, some California jurisdictions have already chosen to limit their fee collections on deed-restricted affordable homes. Those jurisdictions include at least the cities of San Diego, Sacramento and La Mesa.
AB 571 is an incremental positive step towards increasing housing production and solving California’s housing crisis. Read the full letter here [pdf].
