On October 24, 2006, the County Board of Supervisors adopted an Inclusionary Housing Ordinance (the IHO) that requires the inclusion of affordable housing units as part of a residential development, or the payment of a fee in-lieu of providing the affordable units. The IHO includes formulas for the annual calculation of in-lieu fees for rental and for-sale housing. In 2009, the California Superior Court concluded that the rental housing requirements in inclusionary ordinances were superseded by the vacancy decontrol provisions of the Costa-Hawkins Act (Palmer/Sixth Street Properties, L.P. v City of Los Angeles). In order to comply with the Palmer decision, the County maintained the language in the IHO, but changed the in-lieu fee to $0 for rental developments. The current in-lieu fee for for-sale housing is $3,874 per market rate unit.
In 2017, the governor signed into law AB 1505, which affirmed local agencies’ authority to apply affordable housing requirements to rental projects, effective January 1, 2018. The Department of Conservation and Development seeks input from the Internal Operations Committee on the reinstatement of the rental in-lieu fee based on the formula in the IHO. The 2018 calculation for the fees is $24,200.55 for rental housing and $6,218.91 for for-sale housing.
If there is not a referral to the Internal Operations Committee, Conservation and Development Department staff would bring an agenda item to the full Board of Supervisors without the benefit of a committee discussion.