California lawmakers are advancing a $10 billion bond proposal aimed at building and preserving affordable homes, while a broader effort to curb rent increases failed to advance in the state Assembly on Tuesday.
The Senate Housing Committee approved Senate Bill 417 in an 8-1 vote, sending the measure to the Senate Appropriations Committee next week. Lawmakers are seeking to place the bond on the June primary ballot, which would require the governor to sign it into law by Jan. 22, according to the report.
Sen. Chris Cabaldon, a Napa Democrat who authored the legislation, said during a hearing last week that the state needs cash to translate housing reforms into construction. “Those homes don’t build themselves, and it’s time to finish the job,” Cabaldon said, adding, “To unlock the full promise of these reforms requires cash. It requires sufficient capital, as it always has, to move these affordable housing projects from approval and permitting to construct.”
The bond measure would allocate $7 billion to California’s Multifamily Housing Program, which issues low-interest loans intended to build and maintain permanent and transitional rental housing for lower-income households. It would also include $2 billion for wildfire prevention, rental assistance and affordable housing for low-income tenants and farmworkers, as well as $1 billion for low-income first-time home buyer assistance, including help with down payments.
The committee also approved a separate bond proposal to pay for housing for homeless youths, though lawmakers said they are looking to combine the measures. Sen. Caroline Menjivar, a Van Nuys Democrat who authored the proposal, said she had been unhoused for about a year and a half after becoming homeless at age 19. “This is an investment that is really going to help us save money down the line,” Menjivar said, arguing it would reduce homelessness by offering relief earlier in people’s lives.
While housing advocates pursue bond funding, tenant-protection legislation faced a setback. A controversial rent control proposal died in the Assembly Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, as Assembly Bill 1157 failed to get enough votes to advance.
The bill, introduced last year to further restrict annual rent increases, would have tied the increase rate to the Consumer Price Index and capped rent hikes for most rental homes at 5%, instead of 10% under current state law. As a compromise, the bill was narrowed to exclude single-family home tenants from the proposed rental relief. “Tenants need a permanent solution, not a temporary fix,” Kalra said during Tuesday’s hearing. “If we don’t act with urgency to help our tenants in crisis, we are going to continue to contribute to the risk of homelessness.”
The measure needed seven votes to advance but received four, all from Democrats. The three Republican committee members voted against it. Five other Democrats did not cast a vote, which effectively counts as a no vote.
Supporters and opponents offered competing views of how the bill would affect housing supply and costs. The report said some Democrats raised concerns that a rent cap could hurt landlords and argued the Legislature should focus on building more housing. After the vote, Kalra told CalMatters that the bill failed because “we are listening to these wealthy landowners and apartment owners and not those that are literally struggling,” and he said the outcome showed “the power and influence of moneyed interests.”
In testimony, Lidyya Morales, a 53-year-old single mom from San Diego, said her rent rose from $1,300 in 2022 to $2,000 last year, describing work across three different hotels to afford her housing. “I don’t want to live in my car with my kids,” Morales said. After the bill’s defeat, hundreds of tenants affiliated with ACCE broke into chants, including “Housing is a human right!”
Lawmakers also face questions about how earlier pro-housing changes are working on the ground, including effects tied to Senate Bill 79, authored by Sen. Scott Wiener of San Francisco. The measure overrides local zoning restrictions to allow apartment buildings up to seven stories near major transit stations in metro areas, and it passed narrowly last year after multiple rounds of amendments.
Critics, however, said the law has unintended consequences for some communities, including mobile home park residents near transit lines. The report said Wiener acknowledged a loophole that could allow parks to be redeveloped into apartment complexes, potentially putting residents at risk of displacement.
Resident Gail Rubino, at the El Dorado Mobile Home Park in Sunnyvale, told lawmakers last week that the lack of protections threatens existing affordable housing stock. Rubino estimated at least 36 parks in six of the state’s most populous counties would be affected, and said that if all were redeveloped, more than 5,400 people would be displaced. The report also said local officials have said SB 79 is vague, that they cannot agree on which counties it applies to, and that some fear litigation if they adopt new zoning maps without clear guidance.