This week in affordable housing news…:
State Update:

• After years of legislative stalemates on housing policy, Asm. Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland) introduced the first major housing production bill this week endorsed by affordable housing providers and labor groups. Co-sponsored by CHC and the California Conference of Carpenters, AB 2011 will open new sites to affordable development with the potential to produce millions of units, while creating strong labor protections that support all of the workers on these essential jobs. The bill will be heard Wednesday, April 27 in the Assembly Committee on Housing & Community Development. (If you haven’t submitted your support through the Legislative Advocates Portal, click here for a fact sheet, press release, and sample support letter.)

• Politico said this week the bill offered a “glimmer of compromise” after several legislative sessions of gridlock on housing workforce issues. Politico highlighted the rare combination of affordable housing and labor support for the bill, as well as its sound policy proposals and endorsement by Assembly leadership. “California desperately needs more housing, but we can’t leave our workers behind in a rush to build,” Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon said earlier this week. “This bill strikes the right balance. It would allow for accelerated housing production across our state, while offering high-paying jobs and health benefits for workers. I’m grateful to Assemblymember Wicks for her leadership on this important issue.”

• “We believe this is a very powerful labor bill,” Danny Curtin, president of the California Conference of Carpenters, told Politico, acknowledging the State Building Trades remain opposed. CHC’s Ray Pearl reaffirmed housing advocates’ commitment to finding a path forward on housing policy that produces more affordable housing and more stable, well-paying jobs. “It is an honest attempt to bridge that gap,” said Pearl, “and we are hopeful that there is a breakthrough.”

• Another important CHC-sponsored bill authored by Asm. Wicks, AB 2334, will be heard next week in the Assembly Local Government Committee. The bill, which was approved 6-1 by the housing committee in March, extends expanded Density Bonus Law provisions for 100% affordable housing near transit to include all location-efficient projects, including those in areas with low vehicle miles traveled. (Please submit your support for this bill through the Legislative Advocates Portal; click here for a fact sheet and sample support letter.)

ICYMI – Top news stories:

Unions again take center stage in housing debate
Politico
Is 2022 the year Sacramento forges a sustained truce in the housing labor wars? Workforce disputes have for years stymied bills seeking to accelerate housing construction. A growing bloc of Democratic lawmakers want to make it easier to plan and build multi-unit housing, seeing a burst of new homes as critical to resolving the intertwined housing and homelessness crises that are top of voters’ wish lists. The formidable State Building and Construction Trade Council of California has maintained that any state actions to boost supply must bring commensurate benefits to the workers doing all that building. Legislation unveiled yesterday offered a glimmer of compromise.

Can Underutilized Office Space (And Golf Courses) Be Made Into Affordable Housing?
KPCC
While California’s housing crisis continues to grow, legislators have been looking for new ways to resolve it. Assemblymember Buffy Wicks’s recent proposal, AB 2011, would allow underutilized commercial spaces to be used as affordable housing. There are also other ambitious proposals like Assemblymember Cristina Garcia’s bill, AB 1910, which would incentivize making public golf courses into housing or open spaces. AirTalk explores the potential for these new housing ideas with their respective authors, Assemblymembers Buffy Wicks and Cristina Garcia.

Supervisor Matt Haney wins special election for Assembly District 17 seat
San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Supervisor Matt Haney defeated former Supervisor David Campos Tuesday in the runoff to win the 17th Assembly District seat in San Francisco, the seat formerly occupied by David Chiu, who resigned last year to serve as San Francisco City Attorney. “It’s a powerful statement of what it looks like when we actually fight for and listen to and campaign on the things that San Franciscans actually care about,” Haney told supporters who jammed Victory Hall bar in the city’s South of Market neighborhood. “San Franciscans want us to build more housing. They want us to build more affordable housing,” Haney said as the crowd roared. “San Franciscans want real solutions to homelessness.”