I'm writing to encourage your signature on Assembly Bill 2533. This important measure will preserve existing housing and improve tenant safety, particularly on properties where unpermitted accessory rental homes are critical to the financial stability of vulnerable homeowners, while providing certainty in the standards and processes that homeowners must follow to permit an existing unit.

Unpermitted or informal ADUs are widespread in neighborhoods throughout California, providing badly needed homes for renters and income for vulnerable owners at risk of displacement. Recent legislation began the work of establishing a process for permitting, but left ambiguity in the local application process that has created serious challenges for homeowners when attempting to formalize their ADUs and junior ADUs. Existing law fails to specify the standards that local agencies must use for safety inspections and permitting, resulting in some cities defaulting to much more rigorous building code standards than current law intended, putting the cost of legalization out of reach for the exact homeowners the amnesty program was designed to help–those who most rely on rental income to maintain their own housing stability. To improve safety of units while also reducing the risk of displacement for housing insecure tenants and homeowners, the costs and the uncertainties of the process must be reduced.

AB 2533 improves current law by specifying the sections of California Housing Code that must be applied for safety inspections and permitting, and further requires important information to be provided by permit offices to homeowners to improve transparency and help them understand the process and their options. These new noticing requirements will empower homeowners and raise their confidence in submitting an application.

AB 2533 will create a more predictable, lower-cost process that benefits homeowners, tenants and the communities where they live. For these reasons, I encourage you to sign AB 2533 (Carrillo) into law.