This week in affordable housing news…:

State update:

• CalMatters offered a preview of legislative leaders’ priorities ahead of the release next week of the Governor’s January budget proposal—with Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon and Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins saying they plan to see through affordable housing and homelessness investments made last year, especially in light of the state’s projected $31 billion surplus. “Those at the top are doing better than ever before, and that’s good for California in terms of our revenue,” Atkins told CalMatters. “But as strong as the economy is, we face a homelessness crisis that you see every day in every corner of the state. And we know how hard it is for everyday, ordinary families to get by.” Rendon says he has asked incoming Assembly Housing Committee chair Buffy Wicks to review the state’s programs on housing, rent relief, and homelessness—to identify what’s working, what’s not, and why. “We’re kind of hesitant to change our approach drastically,” says Rendon. “We’ve invested again $12 billion over two years…If there are mid-course corrections that need to be made then we should do that.”

• Asm. Lorena Gonzalez, chair of the Assembly Appropriations Committee, announced this week that she is leaving the Legislature to serve as the new head of the California Labor Federation. Gonzalez was immediately replaced as Appropriations chair by Asm. Chris Holden (D-Pasadena). “I’m sorry this has come so sudden and I didn’t give you warning, but sometimes that happens,” Gonzalez told members this week. “The opportunity to serve in this capacity doesn’t come up but every few decades and as I think you all know, serving working Californians is my singular priority.” Gonzalez will replace Art Pulaski, the Labor Fed’s current executive-secretary, when he retires in July.

• The Los Angeles Times reported this week that the AIDS Healthcare Foundation has filed a CEQA lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles’s newly adopted Housing Element, which sets a goal of producing 456,000 new housing units over the next eight years—including 185,000 units of affordable housing. The group argues that the city will need to “upzone” much of the city in order to meet these targets and has not properly assessed the environmental impacts of this strategy. The Department of City Planning told the Times that city officials complied with the state’s environmental law. “I’m confident the court will reject this lawsuit and uphold the city’s action,” City Attorney Mike Feuer said in a statement. A Times editorial this week came to a similar conclusion: “The last thing LA needs is a lawsuit that could put progress on hold…Let’s hope lawsuits and the inevitable NIMBY opposition that will arise as the city attempts to rezone properties don’t derail the effort to ease the housing crisis.”

ICYMI – Top news stories:

California Legislature faces difficult politics of plenty
CalMatters – Oped by Dan Walters
After a four-month sabbatical, state legislators returned to Sacramento for a new session that will be dominated by several seemingly contradictory factors. On the negative side, California is once again dealing with a surge of COVID-19, that creates thorny issues, such as whether public schools serving 6 million kids can remain open. Conversely, however, those occupying the ladder’s higher rungs have been prospering. These conflicting trends set the stage for a momentous debate over how the cornucopia of tax money will be spent. “It’s interesting the economy continues to do well (but) people don’t feel it,” Assembly Budget Committee chairman Phil Ting says. “And so I think we have to get a sense of exactly where the pain points are, and what (are) the best ways to help them out.”

This Northern California mayor wants to give everyone a right to housing
San Jose Mercury News
As swelling homeless encampments continue to overwhelm California, one big city mayor has a bold idea: A legal mandate that would force governments to house each and every one of their residents.
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg is pushing a “right to housing” ordinance that he hopes will spark similar measures throughout California. The first-of-its-kind proposal would require Sacramento, which has committed to spending $100 million on homelessness over the next two years, to offer every homeless resident a housing placement. Alternatively, since affordable housing is so hard to come by, the city could offer them a bed in a homeless shelter, tiny home, sanctioned tent encampment or other temporary facility—as long as it comes with a long-term path to permanent housing. People who fall through the cracks could sue the city.

S.F. has a slew of mega housing projects on track for 2022. Here’s what it could mean for the city.
San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco housing development in 2022 will be the year of the megaproject. Even as smaller projects are stuck in limbo due to market uncertainties and astronomical construction costs, the city’s colossal multiphase projects like those at Treasure Island, Mission Rock, Pier 70, and Power Station will steam full speed ahead. Streets are being laid out, sidewalks poured, trees planted, streetlights installed and buildings are sprouting from the ground. All told, work could start on some 3,000 units spread across the city’s megaprojects, often former industrial or military properties that require a multiphase approach and infrastructure work like streets, sidewalks, parks and utilities. About 1,300 units are expected to be completed as part of these projects in 2022.