Press Contact: Monika Lee
916-444-7415, monika@paschalroth.com

In State of the State address focused on affordable housing and homelessness, the Governor says “it’s time for California to say yes to housing”—and to “eliminate roadblocks to housing and shelter”

SACRAMENTO – The California Housing Consortium released the following statement today from Executive Director Ray Pearl in response to Governor Gavin Newsom’s State of the State Address, where the Governor urged the Legislature to make “a commitment—right now, this year—to major reform that will eliminate red tape and delays for building critically needed housing, like affordable, multifamily homes, especially near transit and downtowns.”

CHC is currently co-sponsoring, AB 1907 (Santiago, Gipson, Quirk-Silva), a bill that would expand statewide a new law that exempts emergency shelters and supportive housing projects in Los Angeles from environmental review. CHC is also working on additional legislation this year to expand production of affordable housing by identifying additional sites for development, reducing fees, and simplifying the state’s funding application system.

“We applaud Governor Newsom for putting a spotlight on affordable housing and homelessness—two critical, fundamental issues that are directly impacting the lives of millions of Californians. Most importantly, the Governor identified the primary source of these challenges: the underproduction of affordable housing in California.”

“The Governor clearly gets it: California does not have enough affordable housing, and until the state finds ways to build the 1.4 million affordable homes needed to bring supply into balance with demand, we will not be able to offer everyone in our communities an opportunity to live the California Dream.”

“The Governor said today ‘it’s time to say yes to housing’—and pledged to ‘eliminate roadblocks to housing and shelter.’ CHC is committed to supporting the Governor’s efforts this year, and we are already working with members of the Legislature to sponsor legislation that will accelerate production of affordable housing.”

“The Governor once again identified the tools needed to do this job: More stable, reliable funding—and more certainty in the development process to ensure ‘units planned’ become ‘units built.’ CHC and its statewide network of affordable housing experts stands ready to work with the Governor and the Legislature this year to make sure every community can produce more affordable housing for all Californians.”

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