As California continues to face a severe housing crisis, only 17 percent of households can afford to purchase the median-priced single-family home, which is less than half the national average, according to a report by the California Association of Realtors.
Two state legislators, champions of affordable housing, would like that number to increase as Californians experience even higher costs of living post-pandemic.
On Feb. 18, Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland) and Sen. Christopher Cabaldon (D-West Sacramento) introduced Assembly Bill (AB) 736 and Senate Bill (SB) 417, legislation that would place a bond measure on the June 2026 California primary ballot to provide $10 billion to the state’s affordable housing programs.
“All of our communities need it. That’s the reality,” Wicks told California Black Media (CBM) about the state’s need for housing that costs no more than 30 percent of a household’s gross income. “You see demand in urban, suburban, and rural communities. Everywhere across the state has been hit hard by the housing crisis but a majority of these funds will go to multifamily housing.”
The two bond proposals share the same name, the Affordable Housing Bond Act of 2026. If the measures pass out of the Assembly and Senate — and voters approve the ballot proposal — they will provide 35,000 affordable homes and rental housing units while assisting 13,000 extremely low-income and homeless families, Wicks said.
In addition, bond funds would be set aside for farmworkers and tribal housing. They would also preserve and rehabilitate tens of thousands of homes and provide supportive housing for people experiencing homelessness.
“Affordable housing providers have made steady progress toward building more of the housing lower-income Californians need, but there is much more work to do,” Cabaldon stated. “The housing crisis has only been exacerbated in areas impacted by wildfires — disasters that have destroyed homes, tightened rental markets and made it even harder for every community across the state to access the workers, materials, and funding needed to build affordable housing. One of the most important ways California can respond is through a substantial new housing bond.”
Wicks said that 65 percent of low-income renters in the state are rent-burdened, paying more than 30 percent of their income toward housing, which leaves them with meager resources for necessities such as food, transportation, educational supplies, and health care.
Lack of homeownership has hit Black Californians hard in the last several years, according to various reports. Data from 2019 revealed that 41 percent of Black families in California owned their homes compared to 68 percent of White families, according to the California Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA), a 1.5 percent dip from 1960.
