March 9, 2022

The Honorable Henry Stern
California State Senate
State Capitol
Sacramento CA 95814

Re: Opposition to SB-1292: Accessory dwelling units: setbacks.

Dear Senator Stern:

We the undersigned supporters of California’s ADU laws oppose SB-1292 for the reasons outlined herein:

As stewards of our built environment, it’s our duty to protect and contribute to every Californian's fair chance at housing. ADUs provide affordable housing to the deficit housing stock and help homeowners afford to stay in their neighborhoods. Consequently ADUs also give historically underserved communities flexibility, additional income, community and the opportunity to pursue the American dream.

Reasonable State standards, embraced by homeowners and many local governments alike, have launched a movement, with builders, designers, lenders and homeowners collaborating to build new housing statewide in nearly every neighborhood –without subsidy, creating what UC Berkeley has called an “ADU Revolution”. California’s success with ADUs was recently highlighted by the Biden White House Administration in a national webinar to inspire more states and regions to duplicate this California success story. ADU factories are springing up statewide, creating local jobs and bringing technological innovation to the delivery of lower cost prefabricated homes. The uniquely Californian prefab ADU explosion, enabled by State ADU laws, creating billions of dollars of investment and jobs in our State in addition to 10’s of 1,000’s of new homes annually, would be killed overnight by passage of SB-1292.

Restoring local control to setbacks or any other development standards that previously hindered ADU production would roll back years of unparalleled success in California that make us the model for the rest of the country. By restoring local control of setbacks, SB-1292 would send us back to the days when communities could kill off ADUs by requiring large setbacks that prevent ADU development.

This bill would:

Kill the brand new $5 billion dollar industry that has sustained California designers and workers through the pandemic and provided homes for over 40,000 Californians in just 3 years and is now the national gold standard in State land use policy, recognized by the Biden White House to ensure that more inclusive affordable homes come to every community.

Unravel the uniform state ADU standards and predictable approvals needed for ADU designers, builders, bankers, appraisers, and factories to standardize, lower costs, and increase home production. To lower the cost of ADUs and other small homes and increase their availability, uniform standards are essential to guarantee that every homeowner can build in a similar fashion and empower companies to create uniform products that lower costs and increase production using modern technologies.

Reinstate redlining through zoning by enabling local agencies to create such unattainable local standards that no one can predictably get an ADU building permit. This would eliminate a nationally recognized tool for creating inclusion and equity in every neighborhood and once again allow wealthy communities to opt out of inclusive land use policies through exclusionary standards.

There are no health or public safety issues with setback rules in existing law today. State law requires adequate setbacks in new construction ADUs of at least 4 feet from side and rear lot lines, sufficient to provide air and comfortable separations between buildings. Safety decisions are in the capable hands of local fire and building officials who require compliance with fire access and safety for all new buildings. Many local governments and fire officials have eliminated setbacks entirely or reduced them to less than the 4’ State ADU standard, further demonstrating that State setbacks pose no safety hazards that require State law change.

Protect California’s highly effective ADU laws that are critical to meet the State-required Regional Housing Needs Allocations, to aid Californians in weathering the worst housing crisis in recent history–exacerbated by a global pandemic, and to support the expanding and sustainable economy right here in our State. We urge you to withdraw this legislation immediately.

Sincerely,