Affordable Housing and High Road Jobs Act of 2022: use by right: objective standards

The law prevents local objective standards from barring or limiting qualifying housing projects that combine homes with permitted commercial uses. It applies statewide, including charter cities, through January 1, 2033.

What the law does ​

• Requires qualifying multifamily projects to receive streamlined, ministerial review when they meet the act’s site, affordability, labor, density, and objective-standard requirements.
• Bars objective standards from preventing required residential density or forcing smaller units.
• Bars objective standards from prohibiting or limiting mixed-use housing with residential and office, retail, restaurant, or otherwise permitted uses.
• Sets baseline density, height, setbacks, parking, freeway-air-filtration, oil-and-gas-buffer, and other standards for eligible projects.
• Eliminates required vehicle parking, while preserving bicycle, electric-vehicle, and accessible-parking requirements.
• Requires notice and, for eligible small commercial tenants displaced after an application, relocation assistance tied to the length of their tenancy.

Who it affects ​

• Housing developers seeking streamlined approval for eligible multifamily projects on commercial corridors, near transit, or in campus development zones.
• Cities and counties, including charter cities, that must apply the state’s objective standards and ministerial-review process.
• Small commercial tenants on sites proposed for qualifying housing projects.
• Residents and prospective residents of qualifying mixed-use and multifamily developments.

Context ​

The Legislature declared adequate housing a statewide concern because of California’s severe housing shortage at all income levels.