As I start reflecting on my nearly 10 years as Executive Director of CHC, it’s hard to recall the start of a new year that brought such genuine hope from Sacramento that housing policies might actually be a top priority. Yes, there are many months, budget hearings and negotiations to be endured before proposed policies and the state budget becomes final. And we can’t yet know how Governor Newsom will navigate achieving his ambitious housing goals while working with many housing advocates and stakeholders.

Still, in just the last three weeks, we’ve seen the Governor use his authority in three distinct ways to address the housing crisis:

• The Budget. As you’ll read more in this newsletter, the proposed 2019-2020 state budget is packed with a mix of investments to increase housing production, particularly for low- and moderate-income housing. As many news reports and analysis made clear: the proposed budget represented a new day for affordable housing, which in year’s past barely received a mention during the governor’s January presentation.

• Executive Orders. The Governor released two executive orders, including creating an inventory of all state-owned property that could be turned into housing and moving the building process forward by soliciting development proposals and long-term lease agreements.

• Collaborating with the Attorney General on state housing law enforcement. The Administration worked with Attorney General Xavier Becerra to file a lawsuit last week against the City of Huntington Beach to enforce existing state housing laws the city has not complied with. You will recall CHC co-sponsored AB 72 in 2017, strengthening these types of enforcement actions.

Introduction of legislation is just getting started, with many affordable housing and housing bills still in their early stages. It remains to be seen if good housing policy will prevail over politics.

The good news is that as we kick off 2019 affordable housing is not being written off as a problem for another day. The Governor’s early commitment to outline a broad and bold statewide vision for tackling the state’s housing crisis while also taking concrete actions is encouraging. I’m eager for what’s ahead and look forward to working with each of you this year.

Sincerely,

Ray Pearl
CHC Executive Director