This week in affordable housing news…:

State Update:

• Two CHC-sponsored bills advanced in the Assembly this week: AB 1449 (Alvarez), a bill extending CEQA exemptions to a range of 100% affordable housing project approvals, was approved on the Assembly Floor with a vote of 54-13; the bill now moves to the Senate. The Assembly Appropriations Committee also moved AB 1307 (Wicks), legislation that would reverse a recent court decision in the People’s Park case in Berkeley by clarifying that the sound of residents’ voices should not be considered an environmental impact under CEQA. Also of note: Asm. Wicks’ $10 billion housing bond, AB 1657 (Wicks), passed out of Assembly Appropriations as well. Bills now move to the Assembly Floor, where they will need to receive a vote by June 2.

• In the Senate, CHC-sponsored bills also continue to move forward: The Senate Appropriations Committee approved SB 440 (Skinner), a bill allowing local governments to create regional housing finance agencies to fund affordable housing. SB 423 (Wiener), legislation extending SB 35 ahead of a 2025 expiration date, also advanced, with several amendments accepted by the author to strengthen the bill’s labor provisions. Both bills now move to the Senate Floor. SB 439 (Skinner), a bill creating a new special motion to strike non-meritorious CEQA lawsuits, was approved in 39-0 floor vote last week and is now in the Assembly.

• One bill supported by CHC was held in Appropriations and will not advance this year: The Senate Appropriations Committee did not move SB 83 (Wiener), legislation requiring utilities to interconnect affordable housing developments to the grid within eight weeks. The bill was opposed by PG&E. In a San Francisco Chronicle story today, the company says “it is working hard to speed up electric connections for new customers, but that its resources have been taxed by urgent work preventing wildfires.”

• It’s not too late to submit a support letter on CHC’s sponsored bills! Please take action today by placing your letterhead on each of CHC’s sample support letters and uploading them onto the Legislative Position Letter Portal. Send copies to our Policy Associate, Jennifer Armenta: jarmenta@calhsng.org. You can find fact sheets and sample support letters for these bills on CHC’s Legislative Priorities page.

ICYMI – Top news stories:

EDITORIAL: A key law creating affordable housing in California cannot be allowed to expire
Sacramento Bee
SB 35 has helped develop more than 13,000 units of affordable housing and tens of thousands of high-wage jobs in the four years since it went into effect. But the legislation is set to expire in 2025, leaving affordable housing developers looking for help. Now, Sen. Scott Wiener (D-SF), the bill’s author, seeks to expand on that legislation with SB 423. “(This is) certainly not a silver bullet, and nothing is,” Wiener said, “but this is one meaningful piece of the puzzle to get us there.” The new bill would effectively remove the expiration date on SB 35, and make permanent the provisions set forth by the prior legislation, so California can continue to accelerate the development of affordable housing this state desperately needs…The Legislature should pass SB 423.

California’s most successful affordable housing law really works. But the state will lose it if we don’t act now.
Los Angeles Daily News – Oped by Rebecca Clark, Linc Housing, and Tommy Newman, United Way of Greater Los Angeles
Two things seem certain about California’s affordable housing challenges. One that’s generally agreed upon: Facing an exodus of workers being priced out of major cities—and with homelessness on the rise—the state needs to build a lot more affordable housing, on an almost mind-boggling scale. Second, achieving this goal will require something that should be equally uncontroversial: Continuing to do what we know works to get affordable housing built. A bill moving through the Legislature would extend one of California’s most successful tools for accelerating affordable housing development—the streamlined approval process created by SB 35 (2017). But with the law set to expire, legislators need to act this year for the state to have a fighting chance of producing all of the homes struggling Californians need.

Elk Grove will fight California AG lawsuit alleging city broke state affordable housing law
Sacramento Bee
Elk Grove will fight a state lawsuit alleging the city violated California affordable housing law, council members decided last week. The 5-0 city council vote in closed session sets the stage for the legal battle ahead with state officials. California Attorney General Rob Bonta made good earlier this month on past threats to sue after Elk Grove leaders rejected the Oak Rose affordable housing project planned for Elk Grove Boulevard and Kent Street in the city’s historic Old Town. “They’ve resisted the law time and time again. They have left us no choice,” Bonta said, adding the Elk Grove lawsuit “sends a strong message to local governments: if you violate fair housing laws, we will hold you to account.”