Housing Element sites, ADUs and SB 9

Housing Element sites, ADUs and SB 9: what you can add, and what your city plans

Screening only, not a permit determination

Every California city and county must show the state that it has room for its share of new homes, its Regional Housing Needs Allocation. It does that in the housing element of its general plan, with a parcel-by-parcel inventory of sites zoned, or promised to be rezoned, for housing. Those inventories are public records. The map’s Housing Element sites layer, in teal, shows sites from public planning inventories, so you can see where your city expects apartments, townhomes or mixed-use buildings, and how many homes at which income levels it counted on each site.

What a site listing means. It means the city told the state the land can hold housing during the planning period, usually through 2029. It is not a permit, a project or a promise that anything will be built, and capacity numbers are planning estimates. If you are buying next to a listed site, read the city’s housing element and ask the planning department what is proposed. If you own a listed site, the listing alone does not give you new rights; the zoning does.

Coverage

Some cities and unincorporated areas are not shown on the map; those gaps are listed below. A missing city does not mean it has no housing sites, only that we do not have that inventory on this map. Check that city’s own housing element or planning department.

ADUs: the rules the state sets

Accessory dwelling units, the backyard cottages and garage conversions also called granny flats, are governed by California law, which cities can loosen but not tighten past certain floors. In general, a city must act on a complete ADU application within 60 days, without a hearing; it must allow at least an 800-square-foot ADU with four-foot side and rear setbacks; detached ADUs get at least 16 feet of height, more near transit; ADUs of 750 square feet or less pay no impact fees; and cities cannot require the owner to live on the property for an ADU. A junior ADU of up to 500 square feet can be carved out of the house, and needs an owner on site only if it shares a bathroom with the main home. Local rules on design, utilities, coastal permits and fire access still apply.

SB 9: two homes, or a lot split

Senate Bill 9 generally requires streamlined approval of up to two primary homes on a lot in a single-family zone, a split of that lot into two, or both, for up to four units in all when ADUs are counted. The usual limits: it applies only in single-family zones; it can be blocked on sites with certain fire, flood or earthquake hazards, farmland, wetlands or habitat; it cannot demolish rent-restricted or rent-controlled housing or a home occupied by a tenant in the past three years; historic districts and landmarks are out; and a lot can be split only once, with the owner generally signing an affidavit to live in one unit for three years. Cities must allow units of at least 800 square feet and cannot require side or rear setbacks over four feet.

Why we do not color lots “eligible.” ADU and SB 9 eligibility turns on zoning, lot size, existing tenants, historic status, easements, utilities and hazard exceptions that no public map on this site captures parcel by parcel. The map’s zoning colors and the fire, flood and fault layers above can flag obvious issues for a first look, but only the city or county planning department can tell you what a specific lot allows.