How does my jurisdiction transfer land to OHT?

Exempt Surplus Land Criteria

Transferring surplus public land to a land trust such as OHT makes any housing built on that land even more affordable by removing land acquisition from development costs and creating a property tax exemption that underlies all residential units. This creates an affordability advantage for owner-occupied homes and rentals.

According to the CA Department of Housing and Community Development:

Land transferred to a Community Land Trust is exempt from submission to HCD and availability to the general public. Land that is sold, leased, or transferred to a community land trust must meet all the following requirements (which a transfer to OHT fulfills):

  • The land is, or will be, developed or rehabilitated for the purposes of housing.

  • The housing that will be developed or rehabilitated will be occupied by low or moderate-income households as defined in Section 50093 of the Health and Safety Code for owner-occupied units or occupied by low-income households as defined in Section 50079.5 of the Health and Safety Code for rental units.

  • The affordability requirements identified above shall be contained in a covenant, deed restriction, or equity sharing agreement pursuant to paragraph (11) of subdivision (a) of Section 402.1 of the Revenue and Taxation Code for owner-occupied units or pursuant to paragraph (2)(A) of subdivision (g) of Section 214 of the Revenue and Taxation Code for rental units, and recorded against the surplus land no later than January 1 of the year following the sale, that shall run with the land and be enforceable against any owner who violates the covenant or restriction and each successor in interest who continues the violation. A copy of the covenant or restriction shall be provided to the County Assessor.

Surplus Land Act

Surplus land is owned by a public agency (e.g. a city or county government) in fee simple and declared not necessary for a local agency’s use as defined in section 104 of HCD Guidelines).

The technicalities:

  • Land must be declared either “surplus” or “exempt surplus” as supported by written findings before a local agency may take any action to dispose of it consistent with an agency's policies or procedures.

  • A local agency, on an annual basis, may declare multiple parcels as “surplus” or “exempt surplus.”

  • Prior to taking any action to dispose of surplus land, the governing board of a local agency must hold the required public meeting to declare property as surplus land, as described in Section 102(dd) of these Guidelines, and an NOA described in Section 201(a) must be sent to interested housing sponsors identified by the expressions-of-interest list maintained by HCD and local public entities within whose jurisdiction the surplus land is located and must invite those interested to respond to the local agency with a notice of interest.