Housing Element Law Overview
California Housing Element Manual 5th Ed., Law, Advocacy, and Litigation (March 2025)
This manual, updated in March 2025, is a summary of California’s landmark land use planning requirement for housing. The guide covers review, advocacy, and litigation for this plan. Appendices include excerpts from California’s land use laws and materials from the California Department of Housing and Community Development. If you have any questions, please email us at publications@pilpca.org.
Inclusionary Zoning Publications
Inclusionary Zoning Revitalized—AB 1505 (2018)
Inclusionary Zoning After Palmer & Patterson (May 2010)
Inclusionary Zoning: Legal Issues (December 2002)
Inclusionary Zoning: Policy Considerations and Best Practices (December 2002)
Inclusionary zoning policies require a certain percentage of all new housing to be made affordable to lower income households. Over 100 cities and counties in California have adopted such a policy. PILP has produced three publications on inclusionary zoning policies in California. The first and second publications discuss the legal issues relating to inclusionary zoning policies. The third provides an overview of best practices – suggested policy approaches that have proven effective in practice.
Land Use and Ownership Scan, Needs Assessment and Strategy Brief
Land ownership, use, and control are critical to creating conditions for racial equity and housing stability. Recognizing this, the Public Interest Law Project developed a Land Use and Ownership Scan, Needs Assessment and Strategy Brief to provide a foundation for strategic planning in support of legal services attorneys and economic and housing justice partners working on land use and housing issues. Learn More.
- Reviews publicly available data on ownership trends, demography, and the interplay of race and class, highlighting the trend towards proliferation of institutional investors and consolidation of land and housing ownership in California.
- Offers case studies of anti-discrimination lawsuits, tenant protection policies, community ownership models, and other equitable development strategies employed by legal services and community-based organizations in California to combat inequities in land use and ownership.
- Concludes with recommendations to fill gaps in research and data, bolster the legal aid sector’s ability to work in housing and land use, and champion initiatives to encourage transparency, equity in land use, and community stewardship of land in California.
Please find relevant sources in the full report
If you have any questions, please email us at publications@pilpca.org.
Quick Facts on California’s Land and Housing Ownership Crisis
Legislative Updates on Housing Element Law
SB 197 Extends Housing Element Rezoning Deadline for Certain Jurisdictions
AB 72 Strengthens Mid-Cycle Housing Element Enforcement
AB 1397: Housing Element Law Site Identification Strengthened (Updated June 2021)
SB 166: No-Net-Loss Law Strengthened Fortified Housing Element Site Preservation Requirements
Research Brief: Compounding Disaster: A Spatial Analysis of Housing Risk and Speculation in Post-Fire Altadena.
PILP is collaborating with key allies to highlight the risks of land speculation in post-fire Altadena and to promote alternatives that prioritize community stability over profit-driven property acquisition.
Read the first brief in a series examining landownership and speculative risks in post-fire Altadena: "Compounding Disaster: A Spatial Analysis of Housing Risk and Speculation in Post-Fire Altadena." This research series is a joint effort by Strategic Actions for a Just Economy, Inclusive Action for the City, morena strategies, UCLA Veterans Legal Clinic, and theworksLA.
The report finds:
· Displacement vulnerabilities were already high prior to the Eaton Fire, disproportionately affecting tracts in western Altadena (historically home to one of the largest communities of Black homeowners in Los Angeles County).
· Following the EatonFire, corporate acquisition of land has accelerated; nearly half of the 94post-fire sales from February 11 to April 30, 2025, were to corporate entities;during the same period the year prior, only 5 of 95 sales were to corporatebuyers.
· Post-fire sales have been notably concentrated in BIPOC communities.
Click here to advocate for a $200 million state investment that helps nonprofits acquire properties and return them to community hands.
Surplus Land Act
HCD Issues Final Surplus Land Act Guidelines
The California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) on August 1, 2024 released final updated Surplus Land Act (SLA) Guidelines! These guidelines provide crucial clarifications for implementing the Surplus Land Act, as amended by AB 480.
New Surplus Land Act Dashboard
In addition to the guidelines, HCD has launched a Surplus Land Act Dashboard. This dashboard highlights the significant impact of the SLA on housing in California. Since 2021, HCD has issued 816 letters and facilitated the creation of 28,419 housing units, including 16,772 affordable housing units. This demonstrates the SLA's vital role in addressing California's housing crisis. The dashboard defines affordable housing units as:
"The sum of all deed-restricted affordable housing units proposed or constructed on surplus land or exempt surplus land. These totals generally do not reflect the additional affordable housing units built on surplus land due to a 15% affordability covenant required when the initial offering of surplus land through a Notice of Availability process does not result in a sale or lease."
Surplus Land Act Materials
The California Legislature amended the Surplus Land Act in 2019, AB 1486 (Ting), to substantially strengthen the provisions of the law to prioritize affordable housing development.
AB 1486 Frequently Asked Questions on the Surplus Land Act and a flow chart for the process.
Surplus Land Act (AB 1486)-Understanding the SLA (Presentation Slides on AB 1486)
In April 2021, the Department of Housing and Community Development issued guidance on the amended Surplus Land Act.
