50468. (a) The department shall not require a project-specific transition reserve for any unit subject to a qualified project rental or operating subsidy.
(b) The Pooled Transition Reserve Fund is hereby created within the State Treasury and, notwithstanding Section 13340 of the Government Code, is continuously appropriated to the department for the purpose of establishing and maintaining a pooled transition reserve. The fund shall consist of all of the following:
(1) Fees charged by the department to projects that receive qualified project rental or operating subsidies at the time of permanent loan closing.
(2) Upon appropriation by the Legislature, moneys from the General Fund or other funds.
(3) Moneys from any other source, including from any private donation or grant made for the purposes of this part.
(c) The department may charge a fee to each project that receives qualified project rental or operating subsidies at the time of permanent loan closing, not to exceed the reasonable costs of the department to capitalize the reserve fund and cover administrative costs. All fees shall be deposited in the Pooled Transition Reserve Fund and used for the purposes of this section. The department may capitalize the fees authorized by this subdivision as necessary to ensure the financial feasibility and long-term affordability of the multifamily housing project, in which case funds may be transferred to the Pooled Transition Reserve Fund at the time of permanent loan closing.
(d) (1) “Project-specific transition reserve” means a reserve account or a set aside of funds accruing to the benefit of a particular affordable rental housing development to address the impacts on tenants of a loss or exhaustion of a rental or operating subsidy.
(2) “Pooled transition reserve” means a fund or account established and maintained by the department to mitigate, with respect to residential dwelling units described in subdivision (e), the impacts on tenant rents from the loss or exhaustion of a qualified project rental or an operating subsidy.
(3) “Qualified project rental or operating subsidy” means federally originated rental assistance or operating subsidies, the local rental housing subsidy programs operated by the City and County of San Francisco and the City of Los Angeles, or other means of rental assistance or operating assistance identified by the department.
(e) This section shall apply to units of a multifamily housing project financed by any program administered by the department, for which permanent loan closing has not occurred prior to January 1, 2023, including, but not limited to, all of the following:
(1) The competitive component of the Building Homes and Jobs Act (Chapter 2.5 (commencing with Section 50470)).
(2) The Joe Serna, Jr. Farmworker Housing Grant Program (Chapter 3.2 (commencing with Section 50515.2)).
(3) The Multifamily Housing Program (Chapter 6.7 (commencing with Section 50675)).
(4) The Transit-Oriented Development Implementation Program (Part 13 (commencing with Section 53560)).
(5) Housing for a Healthy California Program (Part 14.2 (commencing with Section 53590)).
(6) The Veterans Housing and Homeless Prevention Act of 2014 (Article 3.2 (commencing with Section 987.001) of Chapter 6 of Division 4 of the Military and Veterans Code).
(7) The Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Program (Part 1 (commencing with Section 75200) of Division 44 of the Public Resources Code).
(8) The No Place Like Home Program (Part 3.9 (commencing with Section 5849.1) of Division 5 of the Welfare and Institutions Code).
(9) The federal Community Development Block Grant Program (42 U.S.C. Sec. 5301 et seq.).
(10) The federal HOME Investment Partnership Program (42 U.S.C. Sec. 12721 et seq.).
(11) The National Housing Trust Fund established pursuant to the federal Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (Public Law 110-289), and implementing federal regulations.
(f) The department may review, adopt, amend, and repeal guidelines to implement uniform standards or criteria that supplement or clarify the terms, references, or standards set forth in this section, including adopting fees as set forth in subdivision (c). The guidelines may address participation in the pooled transition reserve by projects with existing project-based transition reserves, including disposition of the existing project-based transition reserve funds. The adoption, amendment, or repeal of any guidelines or terms pursuant to this subdivision is hereby exempted from the rulemaking provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code).
(Added by Stats. 2022, Ch. 667, Sec. 1. (SB 948) Effective January 1, 2023.)