Co-Authors and Coalition Grow Behind Affordable Housing Bond

SACRAMENTO — Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, joined by a growing coalition of legislators, affordable housing providers, construction unions, local governments, and housing advocates, has ramped up efforts to place a $10 billion affordable housing bond on the 2024 ballot. Key policy experts note that without the housing bond, the affordable housing pipeline will stall.   

In recent weeks, 14 members of the Assembly and Senate have signed on to endorse the legislation, bringing to 25 the total number of co-authors.

“California’s housing crisis will not wait for the state budget to improve, and now is not the time to turn our backs on millions of people living at lower-income levels and searching for affordable places to live,” said Asm. Wicks. “With the uncertain budget picture threatening funding for the state’s most successful housing programs, we need AB 1657 to build the affordable housing struggling Californians need.” 

A $10 billion bond would provide financial stability to many of the state’s core housing and preservation programs, which are facing cuts at the same time resources from the last statewide housing bond are being exhausted. Asm. Wicks’ bond would provide the funds to produce, preserve, and/or retrofit more than 120,000 affordable homes, many of which are already waiting in the pipeline for funding to break ground, including offering homeownership opportunities and tailored strategies for farmworkers and tribal communities. Collectively, these projects will result in tens of thousands of high-paying construction jobs. 

“The housing crisis is a cancer threatening the heart of California’s social stability,” said Danny Curtin, Director of the California Conference of Carpenters. “We have far too many people sleeping in the streets or in the back of cars, or struggling to keep a roof over their heads —  we can’t continue this way. Californians need to feel safe in their neighborhoods, economically secure in their homes, and confident their children will be able to afford a modest home. We can, and must, build our way out of this.”

The Legislature and communities across California have taken significant steps in recent years to respond to the housing crisis. This progress would be severely undermined without ongoing state support. With the roots of the crisis stretching back decades, it will require continued, larger-scale efforts to truly stop the cycle of homelessness and curb the explosive unaffordability facing Californians. 

“Long Beach has been proactive in tackling the housing and homelessness challenges facing our region, but these efforts require sustained resources and partnerships to deliver meaningful results,’’ said Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson. “AB 1657 would provide cities with the resources we need to expand our housing supply, improve housing quality, and provide more Californians with the stability and support they deserve.”

With over 180,000 Californians experiencing homelessness on any given night, Californians continue to rank housing affordability and homelessness as California’s two most important priorities. Recent data also showed that to afford the average two-bedroom apartment in California, Californians must earn $81,191 per year to avoid being rent-burdened (i.e. spending more than 30% of their income on housing).

"For too many low-income Californians, including those who are experiencing homelessness, the cost of market-rate housing is unaffordable," said Chione Flegal, Executive Director of Housing California. "Increasing the supply of homes that are affordable to low-income households is a critical part of solving homelessness and building a California that works for all. At a time when the state needs to be scaling up resources for affordable housing production–not scaling them back–AB 1657 will help ensure that we continue to make progress towards a future of housing stability and shared prosperity."

According to the Statewide Housing Plan, California needs to produce an additional 2.5 million housing units–including 1.2 million for lower-income households–to meet the state’s unmet housing needs. The state has historically used voter-approved bonds to fund the construction and rehabilitation of affordable housing, but resources from its last housing bond, the $3 billion Veterans and Affordable Housing Bond Act of 2018, will be largely allocated by the end of 2024. Meanwhile the last round of funding for the Multi-family Housing Program (MHP), the state’s largest program for producing affordable housing, was oversubscribed 10:1.

The bond, which would be placed on the November 2024 ballot, has stood out as a solution that would begin to turn the tide in the fight against homelessness. Over 250 community organizations have voiced their support for the measure. 

Learn more about the Affordable Housing Bond of Act of 2024 (AB 1657) and opportunities to sign on as a supporter of the legislation by clicking here.

A full list of AB 1657 supporters can be found below:

A Community of Friends

A. Robbins Group

Abode Communities

Abode Housing Development

Abode Property Management

Abode Services

Access Reproductive Justice

ACLU California Action

Alameda County Democratic Party

All Home

Alta Housing

American Institute of Architects, Los Angeles Chapter

American Planning Association, California Chapter

Armony Companies

Ascencia

Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG)

Bay Area Community Services

Bay Area Lisc

Beep, INC.

Behavioral Health and Recovery Services

Berkeley Student Cooperative

Bonnewit Development Services

Brighter Future Initiative

Brilliant Corners

Burbank Housing

California Apartment Association

California Association of Local Housing Finance Agencies (CAL-ALHPFA)

California Climate and Agriculture Network

California Coalition for Rural Housing

California Community Land Trust Network

California Conference of Carpenters

California Faculty Association

California Housing Consortium

California Housing Partnership Corporation

California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation

California Women’s Law Center

Capital Impact Partners

Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County

CDR

Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice

Center for Community Advocacy

Central Coast Center for Independent Living

Central Valley Empowerment Alliance

Century Housing Corporation

Change and New Beginnings

Children’s Partnership

Chispa

CHOC

City of Alameda

City of Beverly Hills

City of Camarillo

City of Concord

City of El Centro

City of Encinitas

City of Firebaugh

City of Foster City

City of Fremont

City of Goleta

City of Grover Beach

City of Inglewood

City of Long Beach

City of Morgan Hill

City of Norwalk

City of Paramount

City of Pleasanton

City of Redlands

City of Riverside

City of San Jose

City of Santa Monica

City of Santa Rosa

City of Soledad

City of Thousand Oaks

City of West Hollywood

Colesworthy Real Estate Services

Committee for Racial Justice

Community Corporation Santa Monica

Community HousingWorks

Community Land Trust Association of West Marin

Compass Family Services

Congregations Organized for Prophetic Engagement (COPE)

Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH)

Council of Community Housing Organizations

CRP Affordable Housing and Community Development

CTY Housing

Curtis Development

Destination: Home

Devine & Gong, INC.

District 5 Supervisor, Tuolumne County

EAH Housing

East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation

East Bay Housing Organizations

East LA Community Corporation

East Palo Alto Community Alliance Neighborhood Development Organization

Eden Housing

Ellisckenterprises LLC

Empowering Pacific Islander Communities (EPIC)

Enterprise Community Partners

Epacando

Evolve California

Excelerate Housing Group

Fair Housing Advocates of Northern California

Friends Committee on Legislation of California

FSY Architects

Funders Together to End Homelessness San Diego

Gerson Real Estate Consulting

Greenlining Institute

Ground Works Consulting

Gunkel Architecture INC.

Habitat for Humanity California

Habitat for Humanity Greater San Francisco

Healing and Justice Center

Hollywood Community Housing Corporation

Holos Communities

Homebase

Homeless Policy Research Institute

Homes & Hope

Housing Action Coalition

Housing Authority of the City of Alameda

Housing Authority of the City of San Luis Obispo

Housing California

Housing Choices

Housing Claremont

Housing El Dorado

Housing Impact Partners

Housing Is a Human Right OC

Housing Land Trust of the North Bay

Housing Matters

Housing Now!

Housing Trust Fund Ventura County

Housing Trust Silicon Valley

Imagine LA

Inland Equity Community Land Trusts

Inland SoCal Housing Collective

Inner City Law Center

Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity

ISCHC

John Stewart Company

Jonathan Rose Companies

Kelsey, The

Kennedy Commission

King and I Outreach Ministry

Kitchens for Good

LA Family Housing

Laing Companies

Leading Age California

League of California Cities

Legal Aid of Sonoma County

Lift to Rise

Linc Housing

Lisc Bay Area

Livable California

Lived Experience Advisers

Long Beach Residents Empowered

Los Angeles Business Council

Many Mansions

Marin County Council of Mayors and Council Members

Mercy Housing California

Merritt Community Capital Corporation

Metropolitan Transportation Commission

MidPen Housing

Milestone Housing Group

Mission Economic Development Agency

Mogavero Architects

Monterey County Renters United

Mutual Housing California

Myall Consulting

National Alliance to End Homelessness

Non-profit Housing Association of Northern California

Non-profit Housing Association of Northern California (NPH)

North Valley Housing Trust

Northern California Regional Council of Carpenters

Novin Development Corp.

OC Action

Orange County Housing Finance Trust

Orange County United Way

Parable of Sower Intentional Community Cooperative

PATH

People Concern, the

People's Budget Orange County

PICO California

Planning and Conservation League

PolicyLink

Promoters de Salud OC

Public Advocates

Public Interest Law Project

Rescue SF

Resilience OC

Resources for Community Development

Richmond Community Foundation

Rise Economy 

RRM Design Group

Sacramento Environmental Justice Coalition

Sacramento Housing Alliance

Sacred Heart Community Service

San Diego Housing Federation

San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District

San Francisco Housing Accelerator Fund

San Francisco Housing Development Corporation

San Francisco SafeHouse

San Francisco Tenants Union

San Joaquin Valley Housing Collaborative

San Jose Conservation Corps

San Rafael/Marin County Council of Mayors & Council Members

Santa Clara Methodist Retirement Foundation

Self-help Enterprises

Shatae Jones Consulting Inc.

Shoftim Group

Southern California Association of Non-profit Housing (SCANPH)

South County Compassion Center

SPGA Architects and Planning

SPUR

Steinberg Institute

Strategic Actions for a Just Economy

Strive Real Estate LLC

Supportive Housing Alliance

Tenderloin Housing Clinic

Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation

TransForm

Turning Point Community Programs

Unity Council

United Way Bay Area

United Way of Greater L.A 

Uplift San Bernardino at the Making Hope Happen Foundation

Valley Restart Shelter

Ventura Social Services Task Force

Wakeland Housing and Community Development Corporation

Weingart Center Association

Western Center on Law & Poverty

Western States Regional Council of Carpenters

Wunz Apparel in Action

Yimby Action

Young Community Developers 

Zen Development Consultants

40 individuals