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Committee advances bill to bar hotels from using housing streamlining benefits
Summary
SB 838 would remove transient lodging (hotels) from eligibility under state housing streamlining laws, aiming to prevent developers from using housing fast‑track statutes to build hotels rather than housing. The committee approved the bill and referred it to the Assembly Committee on Local Government.
Senator Durazo introduced SB 838 to clarify that state housing streamlining laws — including the Housing Accountability Act and related statutes — should apply to housing, not to hotel development.
Durazo said developers have in some cases used housing streamlining to fast‑track projects that ultimately contain or convert to hotel rooms, citing recent examples in Beverly Hills, Santa Monica and Sacramento where hotel components reduced the number of homes proposed. Supporters argued hotels can be added through ordinary local review when appropriate, and streamlining tools should remain focused on producing housing.
Huascar (Huascar/Huascar) Castro of Working Partnerships USA and Matt Bridal of Unite Here testified in support. Bridal said the bill would prevent “gaming” of streamlining laws and reiterated that hotels have different, longer‑term community impacts that should be subject to standard local review.
Opponents including the California Association of Realtors and the California Building Industry Association said the bill as written could limit financing options for mixed‑use projects and urged further amendment; the author agreed to continue discussions and remove retroactive language in a later committee.
Committee members discussed examples and concerns about unintended consequences for projects that include mixed uses or where hotel‑like units could be converted. Several members voiced willingness to work on targeted fixes; others said they could not support the bill in its current form but would continue discussions.
The committee voted 8–2 to pass SB 838 to the Assembly Committee on Local Government.
