Who is covered by the California Employee Housing Act?
The California Employee Housing Act (Health & Safety Code § 17000, et. seq.) and the adopted regulations govern the standards for the construction, maintenance, use, and occupancy of living quarters, called “employee housing,” provided for five (5) or more employees.
In general, employee housing is privately-owned housing that houses five or more employees and meets the following:
- Living quarters provided in connection with any work, whether or not rent is involved.
- Housing in a rural area that is:
- Provided by someone who is not an agricultural employer, and
- Provided for agricultural workers employed by any agricultural employer.
Employee Housing consists of any portion of any housing accommodation or property upon which a housing accommodation (such as dwellings, boardinghouses, tents, mobile homes, recreational vehicles, travel trailers, etc.) is located.
Who must post the California Employee Housing Act Poster?
The Employee Housing Act’s implementing regulations require the employee housing operator to post in all occupied employee housing facilities, in one or more conspicuous central locations accessible to the housing occupants, two notices:
- The Employee Housing Act Information Notice (25 CCR § 624) describing the law’s requirements concerning:
-
- the maintenance, use and occupancy of the employee housing facility
- obtaining Permit to Operate (PTO) from the applicable enforcement agency
- the housing operator’s responsibility to provide and maintain safe and sanitary housing and equipment
- The Safe and Sanitary Housing is the Law Notice (25 CCR § 625) advising employee housing occupants to report unsafe conditions to the local enforcement agency or the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD).
The notices must be posted in both English and Spanish. A housing operator that violates the provisions of the Act, State building standards, or other regulations adopted pursuant to the Act, is subject to a civil action filed by the applicable enforcement agency and any court ordered remediation or a conviction punishable by fines or imprisonment.