But, on their way to the ballot box, both bond measures died — as did many of the more aspiring pieces of housing legislation. Irons said state and local governments aren’t investing enough money in housing production to make a sizable difference.
“We’re not acting at the level of need or urgency that it would take to really confront our housing problems,” she said.
But Amie Fishman, executive director of the Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California, said even though organizations like hers can no longer look forward to the multibillion-dollar bonds that were poised to appear this fall, Proposition 5 could turn the year around.
“Prop 5 is a critical step to empowering local communities to address local affordable housing and infrastructure needs,” she said. “It allows local communities to take control and make decisions about the future without waiting for additional state intervention.”
Housing advocates said the bills that actually made their way to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk pluck at the last of the low-hanging fruit stagnating housing production across the state. Here are a few that made the cut:
AB 2801 (Friedman): The bill prevents landlords from keeping a tenant’s security deposit to pay for cleaning, as long as the tenant leaves the home as clean as they found it.
AB 2747 (Haney): It requires landlords to give tenants the option to opt into reporting their positive rent payments to a credit bureau agency, which could help boost their credit score. The law only applies to buildings with more than 15 units and allows landlords to collect a fee to cover the cost of reporting tenants’ rent payments.
SB 312 (Wiener): This is clean-up legislation from an earlier law, SB 886. The original law, which went into effect in 2023, streamlined construction of student and faculty housing. But, it also required that housing to be Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum-certified. Achieving the highest LEED certification necessitates a lengthy approval process that can delay tenants from moving in. SB 312 would change the law so that buildings have to qualify for LEED Platinum certification, but don’t necessarily have to receive the certification before tenants can move in.
SB 937 (Wiener): This bill would allow developers to pay hefty development fees, imposed by cities, after people have moved into the new housing. Right now, those fees are often due at the start of or during construction — before developers have had a chance to collect rents.
AB 2872 (Calderon): There is a 20% pay gap between the detectives who work on insurance fraud at the California Department of Insurance and those who work with the Department of Justice. AB 2872 would close the pay gap and could help the Department of Insurance hire more fraud detectives.
SB 1211 (Skinner): Further streamlining construction of accessory dwelling units, or ADUs, this bill would increase the number of detached granny flats allowed on multifamily properties, so they can be approved more quickly and avoid long permitting times. Also, if the homeowner decides to replace a carport or driveway with a granny flat, they’re not required to replace the parking.
SB 440 (Skinner): In 2019, Bay Area leaders got a law passed (PDF) to allow them to create the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority, a regional entity that can raise new revenue and distribute funding. SB 440 would allow local governments to join together to establish similar regional housing finance agencies to address affordable housing needs in their communities.
