On Tuesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a suite of bills to boost housing production across California, complementing his $22 billion housing affordability and homelessness package and ongoing work by the state to spur more housing production, tackle barriers to construction and hold local governments accountable. Taken together, the actions represent a comprehensive housing vision and the state’s commitment to create more affordable housing, faster and cheaper.
“The acute affordability crisis we are experiencing in California was decades in the making, and now we’re taking the necessary steps to fix it,” said Newsom, who signed the legislation at an affordable housing development in Oakland. “This package of smart, bipartisan legislation boosts housing production in California – more streamlining, more local accountability, more affordability, more density. These bills, plus this year’s historic budget investments in affordable housing, will directly lead to more inclusive neighborhoods across the state. Creating denser housing near jobs, parks and schools is key to meeting our climate goals as well as our affordability goals.”
Since taking office, the governor has prioritized tackling the housing crisis, signing major legislation to boost housing production, remove barriers to construction of accessory dwelling units and streamline state laws to maximize housing production.
This comprehensive housing vision brings a focus on four key areas: streamlining the building of new homes, breaking down barriers to build more affordable housing, addressing systemic bias by elevating fair housing principles and holding local governments accountable to do their job.
The bill package, combined with four housing bills signed earlier this month, create a robust 31-bill housing package that touches on all four key areas – all complemented by budget investments Newsom included as part of his California Comeback Plan.
Under Newsom, California is pursuing its boldest housing and homelessness budget in state history, with an unprecedented investment of $22 billion to tackle these systemic issues. The funding will lead to the creation of over 84,000 new affordable homes for Californians, including over 44,000 new housing units and treatment beds for people exiting homelessness.
The California Comeback Plan included a $10.3 billion budget investment for affordable housing that will enable the creation of more than 40,000 new affordable homes for low-income Californians. These investments include $850 million for incentivizing infill development and smart growth, $800 million to preserve the state’s affordable housing stock, $100 million to promote affordable homeownership and significant funding to scale up the state’s efforts to create more Accessory Dwelling Units, build more housing on state-owned excess land, and investments in farmworker housing.
