Today Governor Gavin Newsom signed 38 housing bills into law, making good on his commitment to build more housing, faster.
MidPen Housing was proud to support these bills signed today in the Governor’s housing and homelessness package:
- AB 2011 by Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland) – Affordable Housing and High Road Act of 2022.
AB 2011 is landmark bill that will generate thousands of jobs and streamline the approval of all affordable housing on underutilized commercial sites. The new standard would work to express the industry’s alignment with constructing homes using a fairly paid construction labor force. The signing of AB 2011 breaks a two-year impasse in Sacramento between affordable housing advocates and labor. - AB 2094 by Assemblymember Robert Rivas (D-Salinas) – General plan: annual report; extremely low-income housing.
The bill will increase transparency in existing annual state building permit reporting requirements by requiring local jurisdictions to state their progress towards building new units for extremely low-income (ELI) households. The bill does not change the housing element or the Regional Housing Needs Allocation for any jurisdiction. According to the Terner Center at UC Berkeley, more than one million people – representing 17 percent of all households in the Bay Area – are Extremely Low Income. MidPen has committed, through our strategic plan, to targeting 40 percent of our pipeline to address the lack of homes affordable to extremely low-income men, women, and children. - AB 2334 by Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland) – Density Bonus Law: affordability: incentives or concessions in very low vehicle travel areas: parking standards: definitions.
This bill promotes the expansion of affordable housing units by expanding the enhanced density bonus for 100 percent affordable housing developments in location-efficient areas. This concept builds upon a density bonus expansion bill in 2019, AB 1763, which created a new land-use tool that resulted in the City of San Mateo requesting us to add two stories and 61 homes at Kiku Crossing a new total of 225 homes. Our local experience actively dispels the narrative that local governments respond to statewide housing tools with ire – on the contrary, the City of San Mateo embraced AB 1763 as it allowed them to build more affordable homes on public land.
“In a transformational victory, Governor Newsom signed into law AB 2011 (Wicks), a landmark bill that will generate thousands of jobs and streamline the approval of affordable housing on underutilized commercial sites. This solution was supported by the carpenters and brings us closer to our shared goal of building homes with a fairly-paid workforce – one that can rely on health benefits, good wages and encouragement for apprenticeships. Last year a compromise was not even on the table. This year, it became law,” said Nevada Merriman, director of Policy and Advocacy at MidPen Housing.
“Thank you to Assemblymember Wicks and to our committed representatives in the California Legislature for their leadership in advancing solutions. Together, this package turns our housing crisis toward the right direction.”
Other housing bills of note include:
- AB 1837 by Assemblymember Mia Bonta (D-Oakland) – Residential real property: foreclosure.
- AB 2006 by Assemblymember Marc Berman (D-Menlo Park) – Regulatory agreements: compliance monitoring.
- AB 2097 by Assemblymember Friedman (D-Burbank) – Prohibits minimum parking requirements near transit.
- AB 2234 by Assemblymember Robert Rivas (D-Salinas) – Planning and zoning: housing: post entitlement phase permits.
- AB 2668 by Assemblymember Tim Grayson (D-Concord) – Planning and zoning.
- SB 649 by Senator Dave Cortese (D-San Jose) – Local governments: affordable housing; local tenant preference.
- SB 897 by Senator Bob Wieckowski (D-Fremont) – Accessory dwelling units: junior accessory dwelling units.
- SB 948 by Senator Josh Becker (D-Menlo Park) – Housing finance programs: development reserves.
For full text of the bills, visit: http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov.