New California law meant to ease housing crisis likely won’t help much in Sacramento
A new California law seeking to improve the state’s housing crisis likely will not lead to the construction of many new units in Sacramento.
The new law — Senate Bill 9, which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed last month — allows some single-family homeowners to split their lots and build a duplex on each side. The new law could result in 9,500 new units in the city of Sacramento, based on what is financially feasible, according to a report from the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at UC Berkeley. That’s about 4.7% of total housing units in the city.
That’s already a low percentage, and the number of homeowners who actually take advantage of the new law will likely be much lower, said David Garcia, policy director for the center.
“It’s what pencils out, but as a homeowner, it might make sense on paper to do it, but they don’t want it,” Garcia said.
For Sacramento County, the number is a bit higher — it could result in 40,500 new units — about 6.8% of housing units countywide. That’s partly because the lot sizes are generally larger in the county than the city. The law requires a lot size to be at least 2,400 square feet, meaning the new split lots would be 1,200 square feet each.
In addition to the square footage requirement, in the city of Sacramento the new bill will apply only to properties zoned as single-unit dwelling (R-1) or rural estate (RE). That includes most of the city’s residential areas, but not midtown and downtown.
To meet state housing goals, the city would need to create 45,580 new housing units by 2029. The new law is not intended to allow the city to meet that number on its own, however, Garcia said. SB9 was one of 27 bills Newsom signed this week that he said would lead to the construction of 84,000 new affordable homes in California.
“My understanding was this bill was never intended to make up for the full housing deficit,” Garcia said. “It’s an incremental improvement upon what we originally did with (accessory dwelling units) and as we know from ADUs, the uptick has been pretty slow. It hasn’t created a significant amount of new supply.”
Last year, the city issued 76 building permits for ADUs — only about 2% of all housing units permitted that year.
How will ADUs impact new law?
Part of the reason for the bill’s limited impact in Sacramento could be that the city already allows three units on a property — one single-family home and two ADUs. But ADUs can only be rented, whereas the new duplexes would be able to be owned.
“What I think is most exciting about SB9 is it could result in more people being able to own homes in existing neighborhoods where they couldn’t now,” said Matt Hertel, long-range planning manager for the city.
Earlier this year, the median home price for the Sacramento region hit $530,000 — the highest it has ever been in pure dollars.
In addition, while ADUs can be used for short-term rentals such as Airbnbs, the new duplexes will not, said Evan Compton, a city planner.
City staff are recommending the City Council prohibit ADUs on properties that receive approvals through SB9, Hertel said. That would cap the number of total units allowed on those parcels at four.
Concerns raised
City Councilman Jeff Harris said he has concerns SB9 takes some control away from cities.
“I feel the state painted with too broad a paint brush and that they basically took land use planning out of the hands of jurisdictions,” said Harris, who’s building an ADU in his backyard.
SB9 allows cities to implement their own design standards, however — such as requiring a porch and a front door that faces the street — that the city will create, Compton said.
Harris also has concerns about how the new law would affect a proposed controversial city zoning change to allow houses across the city to contain up to four units.
A community group opposing that measure called Save Sacramento Neighborhoods has collected more than 550 signatures on a petition opposing it. The group also opposed SB9.
“California’s governor and legislators ignore residents and vote to get rid of single-family neighborhoods,” the group’s website reads.
If the council approves the zoning change to allow houses to contain four units, it could result in more new units than SB9 because it could be easier for homeowners to do, Garcia said.
“Allowing four units in one structure is much less complex than building two freestanding structures with two units each,” Garcia said.
The new law will take effect Jan. 1. After that, the city will start accepting applications.
It might not be a smooth process, Garcia said.
“No city has ever had to process lot split over the counter,” Garcia said. “You’ll experience growing pains.”
This story was originally published October 1, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
