The California legislature recently closed its 2018 session, and Governor Jerry Brown (D) signed on September 30 a final stack of bills as his term draws to a close. The legislature passed a number of housing measures during the 2018 session focused on more narrow reforms as opposed to big investments as seen in 2017. The key victories include streamlining supportive housing, addressing youth homelessness, expanding time periods to remedy eviction notices and respond to evictions in court, a prohibition on landlords refusing rent payments that come from third parties, and the elevation of the Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council to a department of state government. Two of the recently signed new laws were high priorities of Residents United Network (RUN), a statewide advocacy network of low income renters with lived-experience that is a project of Housing California, an NLIHC state partner, and the Center for Community Change.
Assembly Bill 2219 prohibits landlords from refusing rent payments from third parties not on the lease. The bill, authored by Assemblymember Phil Ting (D), is an important change for low income renters, many of whom rely on relatives or caretakers to make rent payments on their behalf. AB 2219 also requires landlords to accept rent payments from community rent assistance programs, both ongoing assistance and one-time payments including those that are common in eviction-prevention efforts.
Assembly Bill 2343 responds to frequent evictions and landlord retaliation in an environment where landlords are often trying to turn over apartments to increase rents or make upscaling improvements. Previously, landlords were required to provide only a three-day notice, including weekends and holidays, for renters who are behind in rent or who have violated their lease in some way. Renters also only had five days to prepare and provide responses to evictions to the courts. AB 2343 clarifies these timelines to exclude judicial holidays and weekends. The bill was introduced by Assemblymember David Chiu (D).
Earlier this summer, the California legislature came to a compromise on the state budget that includes an increase of $700 million for solutions to homelessness. The new funding will largely be distributed to Continuums of Care through the Homelessness Emergency Aid Block Grant. Also included in the budget was an elevation of the Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council (HCFC) to department-level status. The budget includes $500,000 to hire an executive director and two other staff members. The HCFC was initially established in 2016 to oversee policies and guidelines for Housing First programs and strategies.
Assembly Bill 2162, also introduced by Assemblymember Chiu, would provide “by right” development for supportive housing to reduce prolonged community processes that often explore specious stereotypes about low income people with disabilities. Cities would still be able to apply objective review standards, but there would be an expedited process for non-profit developers moving forward on supportive housing.
Senate Bill 918 creates the Office of Homeless Youth funded at $30 million from the general fund. Introduced by Senator Scott Weiner (D) and Assemblywoman Blanca Rubio (D), SB 918 is responding to the growing crisis of youth homelessness in California, an age demographic of the homeless population that grew by 32% from 2015 to 2018. The new Office of Homeless Youth will provide technical assistance to homeless service agencies, conduct research into the housing needs specific to young populations, and identify service gaps that need to be addressed.
All of the aforementioned bills were signed into law by Governor Brown.
“The successes in the legislature this year largely demonstrate the need for reforms that provide immediate protections of renters from entering homelessness, and for addressing challenges to building affordable and supportive homes,” said Lisa Hershey, executive director of Housing California. “We will work to ensure the legislature continues to take steps to address poverty in our state, and we are confident that voters will show up to the ballot box in November to show the legislature that affordable homes are a top priority.”
For more information about the California legislative session, contact Nur Kausar, communications manager at Housing California, at: [email protected]