California Bill Would Speed Up Conversions of Office Buildings to Housing Units

Facing a housing crisis and record office space vacancies in some downtown areas, California lawmakers are debating a bill that would expedite the permit process to transform empty commercial buildings into residential units. Assembly Bill 2910, authored by Assemblyman Miguel Santiago, would allow for a faster review process with a goal of simultaneously addressing residential and commercial real estate issues. “Adaptive reuse of underutilized commercial buildings has the potential to provide quality, infill residential units, offering a potential solution to meeting both housing supply and environmental sustainability goals,” Mr. Santiago said in legislative analyses. “AB 2910 would give local governments the flexibility and nuance needed to amend their local building codes to better enable conversion projects, while ensuring the state has the appropriate level of oversight and discretion in the process to protect public health, safety, and welfare.”...