2022 Legislative Summary: Winning & Building Momentum for 2023

NPH entered 2022 knowing that to transform our housing infrastructure, we need change from the ground up. 

We saw a need to pursue legislative opportunities that can address the root issues that are making housing so out of reach for so many Californians.

We also saw a need to deepen strategic partnerships with lawmakers and our members so we can collectively work more responsively and efficiently, in turn maximizing the impact of homelessness solutions and affordable housing investments.

First up was addressing why housing production legislation has stalled at the state level, which led to the passage of AB 2011, a bill that satisfies the mutually important goals to create significantly more affordable housing effectively and efficiently while also strengthening worker rights and wages.

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The Importance of AB 2011’s Passage Can’t Be Overstated

At a time when Bay Area residents report a sense of “doom and gloom” and view cost of housing, cost of living, and homelessness as the most serious issues facing our communities, there seemed to be little reason for hope. 

AB 2011 will bring much-needed relief and decisive action for our communities. It will strengthen our communities for all who live and work here by opening 108,000 acres of livable space currently occupied by neglected strip malls, sprawling parking lots, abandoned office corridors, and other qualified commercially-zoned areas. The bill also strengthens middle-income jobs and employment standards by ensuring that developers invoking AB 2011’s streamlined process pay construction workers union-level wages. Read more in our AB 2011 piece.

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With a record state budget surplus, we saw a critical opportunity to advance affordable housing goals. While funding for more affordable housing production was secured through the state budget process, much more will be needed ahead, and we’ve laid the groundwork for deeper budget advocacy in 2023. 

Overall, our focus was to deliver reforms and investments, at scale, that prioritize people first. The results? We’ve secured critical wins and have built the momentum needed to keep advancing our agenda into 2023. See below for our quick 2022 summary of all that we accomplished together, alongside you!

Legislation:

Passed into Law!

• AB 2011 (Wicks) We worked extensively to ensure the passage of AB 2011, a powerful bill built around a simple idea: it pairs new opportunities to build affordable housing on underutilized commercial sites with unprecedented labor standards that ensure all construction workers earn prevailing wages and receive health benefits. We were proud to partner closely with Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, the California Housing Consortium, and the California Carpenters to finally take a step forward with this compromise. Read more about the promise of the AB 2011 deal.
  
• AB 2244 (Wicks) We worked closely with our Faiths for Housing Justice Work Group and IKAR to pass this faith lands bill. This bill ensures that parking reductions are not an obstacle for the development of affordable housing on church lands.

Laying Groundwork for 2023

• SB 1336 (Wiener) We partnered with SCANPH to reintroduce our faith lands streamlining bill. This bill would provide a streamlined process for religious organizations and nonprofit colleges to develop affordable housing on their property regardless of local zoning restrictions. While full passage of the bill will have to wait, we grew our support coalition and laid the groundwork for a new effort in 2023. 
  
• AB 2357 (Ting) This bill passed through the Assembly and stalled in the Senate Governance and Finance committee. Assemblymember Phil Ting and the sponsors made the choice to preserve the current provisions of the Surplus Lands Act (SLA) rather than accept amendments which could potentially undermine our great work over the last few years. In 2023, Assemblymember Ting plans to introduce another SLA bill. NPH also worked in partnership behind the scenes with regional colleagues to improve several SLA bills which sought to shift the SLA’s focus. For context, the original SLA bill was a critical win for our movement, ensuring public lands for public good by making it law that cities prioritize their extra land for affordable housing construction.

State Budget: 

The 2022-23 state budget includes a total of $2 billion for affordable housing solutions, an important and significant amount but not enough for what is needed to match our communities’ housing needs. A big victory from this budget includes the extension of the California Housing Accelerator for a second year, beyond its pilot year. Looking ahead to the 2023-24 state budget, NPH will ramp up a renewed budget advocacy campaign to improve on the investments from this year.Key 2022 budget allocations include:

Affordable Housing

• $500M for the 2023 calendar year in state low-income housing tax credits
• $250M for the Housing Accelerator Program
• $100M in 2022-23 for the Multifamily Housing Program, with an additional $225 million in 2023-24
• $425M over two years for the Infill Infrastructure Grant Program
• $410M over two years for Adaptive Reuse
• $250M in 2022-23 for the CalHOME Program, with an additional $100 million in 2023-24
• $150M over two years for the Portfolio Reinvestment Program
• $100M over two years to continue the Veterans Housing and Homelessness Prevention Program created by Proposition 41 (2014)
• $100M over two years for mobile homes and manufactured housing
• $100M over two years for affordable housing on state excess sites
• $50M for the Joe Serna Jr. Farmworker Housing Program
• $50M for Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) financing

Homeownership

• $500M to establish the California Dream For All Program to make homeownership more achievable for first-time homebuyers. According to Assembly budget staff, the $500 million in General Fund resources may enable up to 4,000 homebuyers to participate in the program.

Prevent Homelessness

• $150M for Homekey 2.0 (Project Homekey) in the current year
• $500M over two years to house unsheltered individuals on state-owned land through grants to local governments for interim housing and site preparation
• $1B in 2023-24 for the Homeless Housing, Accountability, and Prevention Program (HHAPP)
• $39.5M General Fund in 2022-23 and $37.7 million ongoing thereafter for future budget appropriation, pending the adoption of statutory changes regarding CARE Court
• $30M in 2022-23 to increase funding for legal aid for eviction protection

Looking Ahead 

2022 was a much-needed success for our affordable housing movement and industry. We’ve secured a transformational win with the passage of AB 2011, solving what has been a major source of affordable housing construction gridlock in California over the last several years. We’ve laid necessary groundwork for deeper state budget advocacy in 2023 and continued work on critical affordable housing bills that remain in progress. We know firsthand that the transformation of our housing infrastructure will take time and NPH is here for the long haul of our collective work.

Going into 2023, we’re preparing right now for renewed legislative and budget advocacy efforts. Our focus will be on bills related to streamlining affordable housing construction on faith lands and advancing our Surplus Lands Act (SLA) policies. We’ll also be supporting a broader universe of affordable housing development priorities both through the legislative and state budget processes.

We’re also looking ahead to the 2024 electoral cycle as a key opportunity to build the public will needed to shift hearts and minds and advance critical affordable housing priorities. 

Ready to join us? Take the first step today by joining our Legislative Issues Committee, where for nearly 40 years we’ve been strategizing, planning, and making an impact alongside the Bay Area’s affordable housing industry. You’ll have a chance to help us determine our priorities moving forward!

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Our 2024 Electoral Strategy

NPH is working closely with our Bay Area Housing for All (BAHA) coalition partners on transformational electoral strategy for November 2024. If successful, our 2024 initiative will dramatically shift how we can generate local funds to build more affordable housing and homelessness solutions, creating structural change and unlocking billions of dollars in the Bay Area and around the state. But to be successful, we need you to help us build the power and infrastructure we need to win. Sign up to support 2024 efforts!

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