For Immediate Release
January 21, 2020
Contact: Mike Roth, 916.444.7170

ICYMI: AFFORDABLE HOUSING LEGISLATION BY ASSEMBLYMEMBER SANTIAGO IS A “NO BRAINER,” SAYS LOS ANGELES TIMES EDITORIAL BOARD

Sacramento, CA — In an editorial over the weekend, the Los Angeles Times highlighted Assemblyman Miguel Santiago’s (D-Los Angeles) newly introduced legislation, AB 1907, to expand statewide a successful policy that is accelerating development of homeless shelters and permanent supportive housing projects in Los Angeles. Calling Santiago’s bill a “no-brainer,” the Times Editorial Board applauded its targeted approach to helping “get people off the street and [preventing] the poorest, most vulnerable Californians from becoming homeless in the first place.”

Representing a downtown LA district that has become ground-zero for some of the biggest housing and homelessness issues facing the state, Asm. Santiago first pioneered his approach last year, authoring a bill, AB 1197, that exempted certain types of homeless housing from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Two months after being signed into law, a judge used these new rules to throw out a lawsuit seeking to stop a 154-bed homeless shelter from being built in Venice. “The city has granted exemptions to three other homeless shelters, and nine permanent supportive housing projects have requested the same protection, which can help shave months or even years off a project’s timeline,” notes the Times.

Asm. Santiago’s new bill, AB 1907, co-sponsored by the California Housing Consortium (CHC), a nonprofit advocate for the production and preservation of affordable housing, would allow more communities across the state to adopt this same approach. The bill would provide the same protections to supportive housing developments and emergency shelters statewide, while also extending these rules to 100% affordable housing developments that receive state and federal funds requiring rigorous project application and thorough reviews before being approved at the local level.

“It’s a no-brainer to expand CEQA exemptions for homeless housing projects statewide,” says the Times editorial. “But Santiago is also right to go further. If California really wants to slow the growing number of homeless residents, the state also has to dramatically increase the number of affordable housing units available. California is in a homelessness crisis in part because of the lack of affordable housing.“

In a statement, Ray Pearl, CHC’s executive director, said: “With the state facing a growing homelessness crisis, Asm. Santiago led a successful effort last year to remove barriers slowing the construction in Los Angeles of much-needed supportive housing and emergency shelters for homeless residents. This bill takes the next logical step: extending these provisions statewide to allow more communities wrestling with homelessness to quickly approve and support the development of the affordable housing we need to help people get off the street—and prevent homelessness in the first place.”

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