Circulate San Diego and Assemblymember Alvarez Announce the Affordable Homes Bonus Law to Create More Affordable Homes

SAN DIEGO – RealEstateRama – Circulate San Diego and Assemblymember David Alvarez announced new legislation to create more affordable homes. The Affordable Homes Bonus Law (AB 2433) will boost homeownership, create more affordable homes, and streamline housing approvals.

The bill reforms California Bonus Law, a state law that streamlines approvals by granting benefits to projects that build affordable homes. Bonus law is California’s most utilized housing incentive program. The reforms under AB 2433 will take this already effective program and make it even more conducive to building more affordable homes more quickly.

”We are grateful to Assembly Member Alvarez for continuing to fight for more affordable homes in California. The Affordable Homes Bonus Law will help create even more affordable homes that families can afford,” said Colin Parent, CEO and General Counsel with Circulate San Diego.

“California’s housing crisis has been decades in the making, but Bonus Law is proof that the right policies work”, said Assemblymember Alvarez. “AB 2433 builds on that success by making it easier to build homes families can actually purchase. If you dream big and work hard, you should be able to own a piece of the California dream.”

The bills reforms focus on boosting homeownership, creating more affordable homes, and streamlining approvals through the following policy reforms:

• Create More For-Sale Affordable Homes: Grants additional incentives to homebuilders creating deed-restricted for-sale homes for low- and moderate-income families.
• Deeply Affordable Housing: Ensures that homebuilders can deed-restrict their units at levels more affordable than the levels outlined in statute. This will ensure that 100 percent affordable homebuilders can access the full stacked bonus available under AB 1287.
• Name Update: Changes 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.
• Streamlining Approvals: Streamlines the approval process for homebuilders to make sure that homes are approved more quickly and face less barriers. Policy reforms include making benefits automatic, reaffirming the non-discretionary approval of benefits, and clarifying that Bonus Law projects receive development certainty after their initial application.

California Bonus Law has strong roots in San Diego. Bonus Law has been on the books since 1979, but has only been widely effective in recent years, thanks in part to reforms born and bred in San Diego. Mayor Falconer adopted an enhanced bonus in the City of San Diego. In 2020, Circulate sponsored this policy for statewide adoption, with AB 2345 (Gonzales). Circulate later sponsored legislation with Assemblymember Alvarez to enact AB 1287 in 2023, which created an additional bonus. Now, homebuilders who build enough affordable units qualify for an additional 100 percent capacity bonus.

“As a leading nonprofit housing builder, Community HousingWorks has been utilizing the CA State Density Bonus Law to bring more affordable homes to National City, the San Diego region, and throughout California,” said Sean Spear, CEO of Community HousingWorks. “By reducing the red tape and cost of building much-needed housing, these enhancements will allow us to provide substantially more homes and on a faster timeline.”

“Assembly Bill 2433 is a critical step toward expanding the supply of affordable housing in the San Diego region and across California,” said San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Chris Cate. “The bill addresses one of the most pressing challenges facing businesses in our region: attracting and retaining talent amid persistently high housing costs and a severe shortage of available homes. By expanding housing opportunities, this legislation helps strengthen our workforce and supports the long-term economic competitiveness of the San Diego region. We commend Assemblymember Alvarez for his leadership on this urgent issue and look forward to working with the Legislature to move AB 2433 forward and deliver real advancements on housing affordability.”

“AB 2433 makes important improvements to California’s affordable homes bonus program. Inner City Law Center is excited to support this effort to build more affordable homes across California,” said Mahdi Manji, Director of Public Policy, Inner City Law Center.

Circulate San Diego is the bill’s lead sponsor. The San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, SPUR, and the Inner City Law Center are co-sponsors.

###

Contact
Colin Parent, (619) 567-6856,
Aria Grossman, (619) 736-0072,