California state legislators passed a strong package of affordable housing measures in the final days of their legislative session that concluded on September 13. The package of more than a dozen bills addresses housing affordability through what many California advocates have been calling the “3Ps” framework – production, preservation, and protections for tenants. The victories include capping rent increases at 5% annually, devoting surplus publicly owned land for housing production, and banning housing discrimination against households using vouchers or other subsidies to pay the rent.
The victories are built on robust advocacy and years of strategic campaigning by many organizations, including the leadership of NLIHC’s California state partners Housing California, the Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California (NPH), the Southern California Association of Non Profit Housing (SCANPH), California Housing Partnership, and the California Coalition for Rural Housing.
The statewide cap on rent increases follows similar rent-control measures passed this year in Oregon and New York. Assembly Bill 1482 (AB 1482) limits landlords to 5% annual rent increases on top of the inflation rate. The rent-increase limit will not apply to rental properties less than 15 years old, and the new law has a sunset provision in 2030.
The “Public Lands for Public Good” bill, Assembly Bill 1486 (AB 1486), strengthens California’s “Surplus Land Act” to turn unused public land into affordable homes. AB 1486 broadens the types of local agencies subject to the Surplus Land Act and eliminates several exemptions. The bill also closes some loopholes in the Surplus Land Act and makes it easier for interested housing developers to acquire surplus property by buying or renting it from the state or local agencies making it available. The bill also calls for the creation of a statewide public lands database that housing providers can use to guide decisions on potential acquisition. Introduced by Assemblymember Phil Ting (D), AB 1486 is meant to address the scarcity of developable land throughout California, but especially in metro areas like San Francisco and Los Angeles.
The “Bay Area Regional Housing Solutions Bill,” Assembly Bill 1487 (AB 1487), is a significant win for the San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose region. The bill will provide funding for the Bay Area to create more affordable homes and protect longtime residents. The bill creates the Housing Alliance for the Bay Area, a new regional coordinating body with the authority to raise revenues across various municipalities. This authority will allow more resources to be generated in a cohesive and comprehensive manner throughout the region to augment what heretofore has been a patchwork of local funding measures and solutions across several local governments.
California also becomes the thirteenth state to ban discrimination against renters who use housing voucher subsidies to pay their rent. Senate Bill 329 (SB 329), introduced by Senator Holly Mitchell (D), adds vouchers to prior state fair housing law that had included source-of-income protections but had excluded vouchers. Several local communities in California had previously banned discrimination based on subsidies or vouchers, but this is the first statewide ban. Moving forward, landlords in California will be violating the law when they say, “No Section 8.”
Senate Bill 5 (SB 5) will create an ongoing, sustainable source of funding for local communities to invest in affordable homes and infrastructure by moving existing local allocations into the Educational Revenue Augmentation Fund (ERAF). At least $1 billion from this revenue will be dedicated annually to producing homes for low-income Californians.
Additional legislative victories involved administrative measures: Senate Bill 330 will ensure local governments maintain consistent regulations; Assembly Bill 268 provides additional clarity on expected uses and benefits of local revenue measures that go to the ballot; Senate Bill 9 ends the sunset provision for certified tax credits; and Assembly Bill 68 makes it easier for homeowners to build accessory dwelling units such as garage or basement apartments.
The bills now move to the desk of Governor Gavin Newsom (D) for his signature prior to an October 13 deadline. The governor has been a leader on housing affordability early in his term and he is expected to sign the legislative package. Advocates continue to mobilize and produce messages of support to ensure his signature.
Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California (NPH), an NLIHC state partner, and other advocacy groups are proud to see lawmakers responding to the need for affordable housing and stepping up with solutions. They urge the governor to sign all of these bills into law and look forward to building on this momentum.
For more information on housing victories in the 2019 California legislative session, see NPH’s “The Good, The Bad, and The Opportunity.”