SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Stricter regulations for converted housing are going into effect in Sacramento County.

The Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance Jan. 28 which updated the region’s housing code for converted housing.

Converted housing is when real estate developers repurpose commercial buildings, like hotels, into housing, said Konstantin Safris, a Sacramento real estate agent. Converted housing is used as a way to combat homelessness and supply affordable housing through re-purposing other buildings like motels, he explained.

Affordability was identified as the biggest obstacle in Sacramento County, according to the Sacramento Homelessness Point-in-Time Count. Fifty eight percent of survey recipients said affordable housing needs to be increased throughout the county. In 2024, 6,615 county residents experienced homelessness, the survey stated.

Because housing can be scarce, Californians have taken shelter in substandard housing, which is often unsafe, the ordinance states. Common examples of substandard housing converted warehouses, factories and buildings in residential zones that don’t meet safety requirements and avoid code enforcement, the ordinance explains.

“When a warehouse is built, there’s different requirements. They’re typically not as strict,” Safris said. “If somebody converts it without possibly following all the codes, you’re putting people’s lives at risk.”

The qualifications of substandard housing shifted with the passing of Senate Bill 1465 in 2024. Previously, any building that met the construction and occupancy standards for “human habitation” could be deemed substandard housing, under the regulations of a health officer, the legislation states.

SB 1465 requires a health officer to determine if a building is housing based on its conditions and if it “endangers the life, limb, health, property, safety or welfare of the occupants of the building, nearby residents, or the public,” the bill reads. With these regulations came the requirement of a state-mandated local program.

This legislation was created as a solution to the statewide housing shortage, which resulted in Californians often facing obstacles with affording substandard housing in non-zoned buildings, the ordinance states. The ordinance, which is regulated by SB 1465, will implement some of these requirements:

▪ Broaden relocation assistance eligibility for tenants renting a substandard housing unit.

▪ Provide clarification on habitability protections and landlord tenant protections and how they would be applicable to housing units despite zoning and building use.

▪ If a building is determined to be substandard by an enforcement agency because it is being illegally occupied, Sacramento County is unable to begin court proceedings on housing violations if the property owner states the resident is occupying the building illegally, the owner has filed and attempted the resident as a “unlawful detainer” through legal prosecution, or the enforcement agency finds that the building holds no risk to the resident or public.

Safris said converted housing provides more opportunities for housing in the region. In Sacramento, he said affordable housing is hard to come by.

“There’s not really much where we can expand in the city of Sacramento,” Safris said. “This creates opportunity for people to have more housing, and especially low income housing that we desperately need.”

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