NPH Priority Bill 2019: More HOMES Act of 2019 (SB 50: Wiener)

NPH Priority Bill 2019: Housing Alliance for the Bay Area (AB 1487: Chiu)

March 29, 2019

Now live! NPH Action Center for 2019 legislative session (NPH E-News)

April 3, 2019

SB 50 will better protect longtime residents and their communities, save workers hours of commute time, and create more options for California families to find safe, stable, affordable homes.

MORE HOMES ACT OF 2019

SB 50 will help improve the lives and livelihood of Californians of all income levels by offering a bold approach to our housing affordability needs. The More HOMES Act will allow low-income neighbors to stay in the city cores they’ve called home for years, open opportunity for our middle class and young people through inclusive growth, and lessen the commute for many of our workers by building homes near job centers and public transportation.

SB 50 is a bold approach to create more housing affordability, protect existing affordability and longtime residents, and tackle exclusionary restrictions that have divided us against each other.

HOW SB 50 WORKS

SB 50 will create more housing affordability for all Californians, including our lowest income residents bycreating more housing near transit, providing critical tenant protections, and increasing affordable housing opportunities everywhere, including communities that have historically been harmed by exclusionary zoning. SB 50 will:

Update archaic zoning laws, with respect to existing local inclusionary policies and the State Density law, to ensure new homes are affordable homes;
Help transit systems like BART and VTA turn surface parking lots into new transit-oriented homes, 35% of which will be affordable for low- and very low-income families;
Promote housing options for middle-income families who make too much for traditional affordable housing and too little for what is available;
Tackle exclusionary zoning practices that have priced out and excluded lower- and middle-income families and people of color from accessing neighborhoods of opportunity;
And offer protections for low-income communities of color and longtime residents by designating “sensitive communities” areas at risk of displacement, and enshrining time and space for these communities to weigh in on new proposals and restrict upzoning in their communities.

WHY SB 50 IS THE RIGHT SOLUTION

Policies that address all three tiers of housing needs – production, preservation, and protections – create the most progress for our communities. SB 50 will promote growth while protecting low-income communities of color and longtime residents from being pushed out of their homes and communities.

SB 50 also includes forward-looking protections for our low-income communities of color, who have historically had few housing options, resulting in segregation and the growth of racially and ethnically concentrated neighborhoods and cities.

SB 50 will increase housing affordability overall, protecting our lowest income residents and most vulnerable community members.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

Contact Your Lawmaker. Share your support for SB 50 with lawmakers and the bill sponsor.

Join NPH’s Legislative Issues Working Group to discuss affordable housing policy and the Legislature: pedro@nonprofithousing.org