(a) (1) This section shall be known, and may be cited, as the Middle Class Housing Act of 2022. (2) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (A) Creating more affordable housing is critical to the achievement of regional housing needs assessment goals, and that housing units developed at higher densities may generate affordability by design for California residents, without the necessity of public subsidies, income eligibility, occupancy restrictions, lottery procedures, or other legal requirements applicable to deed restricted affordable housing to serve very low and low-income residents and special needs residents. (B) The state has made historic investments in deed-restricted affordable housing. According to the Legislative Analystâs Office, the state budget provided nearly five billion dollars ($5,000,000,000) in the 2021â22 budget year for housing-related programs. The 2022â23 budget further built on that sum by allocating nearly one billion two hundred million dollars ($1,200,000,000) to additional affordable housing programs. (C) There is continued need for housing development at all income levels, including missing middle housing that will provide a variety of housing options and configurations to allow every Californian to live near where they work. (D) The Middle Class Housing Act of 2022 will unlock the development of additional housing units for middle-class Californians near job centers, subject to local inclusionary requirements that are set based on local conditions. (b) A housing development project shall be deemed an allowable use on a parcel that is within a zone where office, retail, or parking are a principally permitted use if it complies with all of the following: (1) The density for the housing development shall meet or exceed the applicable density deemed appropriate to accommodate housing for lower income households in that jurisdiction as specified in subparagraph (B) of paragraph (3) of subdivision (c) of Section 65583.2. (2) (A) The housing development shall be subject to local zoning, parking, design, and other ordinances, local code requirements, and procedures applicable to the processing and permitting of a housing development in a zone that allows for the housing with the density described in paragraph (1). (B) If more than one zoning designation of the local agency allows for housing with the density described in paragraph (1), the zoning standards applicable to a parcel that allows residential use pursuant to this section shall be the zoning standards that apply to the closest parcel that allows residential use at a density that meets the requirements of paragraph (1). (C) If the existing zoning designation for the parcel, as adopted by the local government, allows residential use at a density greater than that required in paragraph (1), the existing zoning designation shall apply. (3) The housing development shall comply with any public notice, comment, hearing, or other procedures imposed by the local agency on a housing development in the applicable zoning designation identified in paragraph (2). (4) The project site is 20 acres or less, unless the site is a regional mall, as defined in subdivision (r) of Section 65912.101, in which case the site is not greater than 100 acres. (5) The housing development complies with all other objective local requirements for a parcel, other than those that prohibit residential use, or allow residential use at a lower density than provided in paragraph (1), including, but not limited to, impact fee requirements and inclusionary housing requirements. (6) The development and the site on which it is located satisfy both of the following: (A) It is a legal parcel or parcels that meet either of the following: (i) It is within a city where the city boundaries include some portion of an urban area, as designated by the United States Census Bureau. (ii) It is in an unincorporated area, and the legal parcel or parcels are wholly within the bo
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