Housing affordability is a pressing crisis in California. It impacts everyone in our state and is the leading driver of houselessness. In the last year, over 330,000 Californians experienced houselessness. Nearly 30% of California’s renters pay over half their income on housing, with well over 1 million households experiencing severe rent burden, paying over half of their incomes in rent. Due to generations of racism, including in housing policy, Black Californians are disproportionately impacted by our state’s housing crisis: while only 7% of the state’s population identifies as Black, Black Californians make up more than 25% of our unhoused population.
An affordable home should not be a luxury commodity available only to those who are well-off.
Californians know that meaningful action is needed now to ensure every resident has a safe, stable, and affordable home. Our housing crisis is poised to continue to worsen over the next few years, the Trump administration and Congressional leadership have proposed devastating cuts to federal housing funding and wildfires have destroyed thousands of homes in Los Angeles County, putting added pressure on affordability.
Our state currently invests less than 0.5% in affordable housing and homelessness programs, and very few resources are ongoing. When the state does invest, investment is not according to a plan or roadmap. AB 1165 will help the state align investments with a comprehensive plan to deliver housing security to Californians.
While AB 1165 does not require investment, it does require our Housing and Community Development Department (HCD) to create plans to finance solutions to our affordable housing and homelessness crisis. The legislation includes:
- A strategic roadmap to end homelessness and California’s housing affordability crisis, informed by research like the Roadmap Home 2030 and Homeless Housing Needs Assessment, focused on long-term solutions that bring people home and keep them housed, and shaped by people who have experienced homelessness and housing insecurity, failed by decades of policy choices that led to this crisis.
- Accountability and transparency measures that keep state spending aligned with the roadmap and informed through clear metrics, as well as a dashboard on progress against those metrics.
Housing is a human right. Paired with necessary reforms, AB 1165 will give California the solid strategic roadmap it needs to end the housing and houselessness crisis statewide.
Primary Bill Author:
Assemblymember Mike Gipson
Bill co-sponsors:
- Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE)
- ACLU California Action
- Bring California Home
- Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH)
- Housing Now!
- National Alliance to End Homelessness
- PolicyLink