This week in affordable housing news…:

State Update:

• The Legislature has adjourned for spring recess and will be returning on Monday, April 18 for two weeks of hearings ahead of policy committee deadlines. Two CHC-sponsored bills will face key committee votes when members return. There is still time to endorse this important legislation! AB 2334 (Wicks), a bill expanding density bonuses for 100% affordable housing in low-VMT areas, will be heard April 20 in the Assembly Local Government Committee. ACA 14 (Wicks), a constitutional amendment that would set aside 5% of the state General Fund each year for affordable housing and homelessness programs, will be heard in the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee. Another CHC-sponsored bill, AB 2006 (Berman), is now on consent and is expected to move to the Assembly Floor. Please submit support letters on AB 2334 and ACA 14 through the Legislature’s Position Letter Portal and email copies to CHC’s Policy Associate, Jennifer Armenta, at jarmenta@calhsng.org. Sample letters are available here.

• The San Francisco Chronicle published a story this week on a San Francisco ballot measure moving toward the November ballot that has exposed rifts among powerful labor unions—and could have ripple effects on the housing debate in the state Capitol. The initiative, which would streamline approvals for 100% affordable housing and mixed-income projects that meet new wage and labor requirements, has earned the endorsement of the Nor Cal Carpenters Union, along with local YIMBY and pro-housing groups. Because the measure does not include the full “skilled and trained” language sought by the state Building and Construction Trades Union, the local trades council has not yet taken a position. The Chronicle reports that the Carpenters will nonetheless be “active members” of the campaign, according to Jay Bradshaw, executive officer of the Nor Cal Carpenters: “We already have volunteers lining up.”

ICYMI – Top news stories:

The big rezoning of Southern California is coming
Los Angeles Times & CalMatters – ‘Gimme Shelter’ podcast
By this fall, the city of Los Angeles will have to rezone to accommodate a quarter-million new homes. And most other cities across Southern California have to make similar moves to allow for a lot more construction by the same deadline. This massive rezoning of Southern California is the result of a state law that requires cities to adequately plan for growth. Most cities so far have failed to meet the state’s rules for adding housing, so they face a quick timeline to rezone. If they don’t do it, they’ll lose out on affordable housing funding and potentially face other fines and lawsuits in the future. On this episode of “Gimme Shelter,” we discuss what the rezoning rules mean for the Southland and whether they’ll end up making a difference in fixing California’s housing problems. Our guest is Kome Ajise, head of the Southern California Association of Governments. 

After the state rejected L.A.’s plan for new housing, will S.F.’s proposal get the green light? Billions of dollars are at stake.
San Francisco Chronicle
At a ceremonial opening of an affordable apartment complex in Mission Bay in late March, Mayor London Breed went out of her way to compliment one state official who was in attendance: “Gustavo Velasquez is now my favorite person in the whole wide state, because he supports and believes in San Francisco.” While Breed may have been slightly hyperbolic in her praise, it was not a bad idea to butter up a California housing czar. After all, it is Velasquez’s department that will determine whether to accept or reject San Francisco’s 774-page “housing element” plan, a state-mandated document that is supposed to lay out exactly how the city expects to meet its housing goals of accommodating 82,000 units between 2023 and 2031, a three-fold increase over the current eight-year cycle. And so far housing officials have been a tough crowd when it comes to housing elements.

San Diego Foundation grants $10 million for plan to build 10,000 homes
San Diego Union-Tribune
The San Diego Foundation will grant $10 million to kick-start plans for building 10,000 new homes, the foundation announced Thursday. “Housing availability and affordability is crippling our economy, causing current generations of San Diegans to slip into poverty and homelessness, and forcing future generations to leave,” San Diego Foundation President and CEO Mark Stuart said. Foundation officials are working with county officials to make publicly owned land available for housing development. The foundation aims to raise $100 million for a Housing Impact Fund. Nathan Fletcher, Chair of the County Board of Supervisors said the county is starting on 1,000 new homes, and aims to create 10,000 housing units throughout the county: “Since we know this approach works— building affordable housing on government owned land—let’s do it at scale.”