(a) “Employee housing,” as used in this part, means any portion of any housing accommodation, or property upon which a housing accommodation is located, if all of the following factors exist:

(1) The accommodations consist of any living quarters, dwelling, boardinghouse, tent, bunkhouse, maintenance-of-way car, mobilehome, manufactured home, recreational vehicle, travel trailer, or other housing accommodations, maintained in one or more buildings or one or more sites, and the premises upon which they are situated or the area set aside and provided for parking of mobilehomes or camping of five or more employees by the employer.

(2) The accommodations are maintained in connection with any work or place where work is being performed, whether or not rent is involved.

(b)  (1) Except as provided in paragraphs (2) and (3), “employee housing,” as used in this part, also includes any portion of any housing accommodation or property upon which housing accommodations are located, if all of the following factors exist:

(A) The housing accommodations or property are located in any rural area, as defined by Section 50101.

(B) The housing accommodations or property are not maintained in connection with any work or workplace.

(C) The housing accommodations or property are provided by someone other than an agricultural employer, as defined in Section 1140.4 of the Labor Code.

(D) The housing accommodations or property are used by five or more agricultural employees of any agricultural employer or employers for any of the following:

(i) Temporary or seasonal residency.

(ii) Permanent residency, if the housing accommodation is a mobilehome, manufactured home, travel trailer, or recreational vehicle.

(iii) Permanent residency, if the housing accommodation is subject to the State Housing Law and is more than 30 years old and at least 51 percent of the structures in the housing accommodation, or 51 percent of the accommodation if not separated into units, are occupied by agricultural employees.

(2) “Employee housing” does not include a hotel, motel, inn, tourist hotel, multifamily dwelling, or single-family house if all of the following factors exist:

(A) The housing is offered and rented to nonagricultural employees on the same terms that it is offered and rented to agricultural employees.

(B) None of the occupants of the housing are employed by the owner or property manager of the housing or any party with an interest in the housing.

(C) None of the occupants of the housing have rent deducted from their wages.

(D) The owner or property manager of the housing is not an agricultural employer as defined in Section 1140.4 of the Labor Code, or an agent, as it relates to the housing in question, of an agricultural employer.

(E) Negotiation of the terms of occupancy of the housing is conducted between each occupant and the owner of the housing or between each occupant and a manager of the property who is employed by the owner of the housing.

(F) The occupants are not required to live in the housing as a condition of employment or of securing employment and the occupants are not referred to live in the housing by the employer of the occupants, the agent of the employer of the occupants, or an agricultural employer as defined in Section 1140.4 of the Labor Code.

(G) The housing accommodation was not at any time before January 1, 1984, employee housing as defined in subdivision (a).

(3) “Employee housing,” as defined by this subdivision, does not include a hotel, motel, inn, tourist hotel, or permanent housing as defined by subdivision (d) of Section 17010, that has not been maintained, before January 1, 1984, or is not maintained on or after that date, as employee housing, as defined in subdivision (a).

(c) If at any time before January 1, 1984, a housing accommodation was employee housing, as defined in subdivision (a), and on or after January 1, 1984, was employee housing, as defined in subdivision (b), the owner and operator shall comply with all requirements of this part. The owner and operator of any other housing accommodation which is employee housing pursuant to subdivision (b) shall be subject to the licensing and inspection provisions of this part and shall comply with all other provisions of this part, except that if any portion of the housing accommodation is held out for rent or lease to the general public, the construction and physical maintenance standards of the housing accommodation shall be consistent with the applicable provisions of the State Housing Law, Part 1.5 (commencing with Section 17910), the Manufactured Housing Act, Part 2 (commencing with Section 18000); or the Mobilehome Parks Act, Part 2.1 (commencing with Section 18200). The owner or operator of the employee housing shall designate all units or spaces which are employee housing, as defined in this subdivision, for the purpose of inspection and licensing by the enforcement agency, subject to confirmation by the enforcement agency, based on all relevant evidence.

(d) “Employee housing” does not include employee community housing, as defined by Section 17005.5, that has been granted an exemption pursuant to Section 17031.3; housing, and the premises upon which it is situated, owned by a public entity; or privately owned housing, including ownership by a nonprofit entity, and the premises upon which it is situated, financed with public funds equaling 50 percent or more of the original development or purchase cost.

(e) “Employee housing” means the same as “labor camp,” as that term may be used in this or other codes and, notwithstanding any local ordinance to the contrary in a general law or charter city, county, or city and county, shall be deemed a residential use if it exists in structures that are single-family houses or apartment houses as those terms are used in the State Housing Law (Part 1.5 (commencing with Section 17910)).

(Amended by Stats. 2019, Ch. 866, Sec. 7. (AB 1783) Effective January 1, 2020.)