Dear Governor Newsom, Speaker Rivas, and Pro Tem Atkins,

On behalf of our coalition of California’s leading affordable housing, homelessness, and housing justice organizations, as well as local jurisdictions and local elected officials, we urge you to prioritize addressing affordable housing and homelessness on the 2024 ballot. We stand ready to work collaboratively with you to ensure we make the most of the opportunities of the 2024 elections, specifically to advance a statewide affordable housing bond, empower local and regional jurisdictions to approve local housing bonds in the future, and advance the Governor’s proposed Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) reforms and companion behavior health bond. Together, these initiatives would advance a suite of needed interventions to make significant strides towards addressing our housing and homelessness crisis. Specifically, they could achieve the following:

Pair strategic investments in behavioral health services and supports with permanent housing. The Governor’s proposal would shift a bigger portion (30%) of MHSA funds to housing-related expenses (SB 326 Eggman) and advance a $4.68B bond (AB 531 Irwin), with 82% going to create an estimated 6,000 treatment beds and 18% going to 3,600 beds of permanent supportive housing for veterans and people experiencing or at risk of homelessness with serious mental illnesses.

Accelerate new affordable housing production with a statewide affordable housing bond. AB 1657 (Wicks) $10B bond would significantly accelerate and expand new affordable housing, including permanent supportive housing (PSH). This bond would produce and preserve more than 50,000 affordable homes, many of which are waiting in the pipeline for funding to break ground, preventing further displacement and homelessness including increasing stable, affordable places to live for people participating in or exiting behavioral health programs.

Empower regional and local governments to do their part in providing badly-needed matching funds for affordable housing development. Passing ACA 1 (Aguiar-Curry) and lowering to 55% the voter threshold to pass local housing bonds and tax measures for affordable housing and infrastructure (identical to the vote threshold required for local school bonds) will allow communities to raise local revenue that supplements state investments. It will unlock critical local resources that often serve as the initial funding for new affordable housing developments.

We applaud your leadership in responding to the state’s housing and homelessness crisis. As communities across California work to meet our statewide housing production goals, we need investment strategies that match the scale of this need and reflect best practices in the field. A strategic package of ballot initiatives in 2024 is essential to fulfilling our shared goals. The three initiatives outlined above, advanced collectively, will provide immediate support to our most marginalized Californians and provide critical investments and tools to solve our affordable housing and homelessness crisis.

Thank you for your leadership in addressing our state’s most critical issues.

Sincerely,

Statewide and National Organizations

CADEM Renters Council
California Coalition for Rural Housing
California Housing Consortium
Corporation for Supportive Housing
Council of Community Housing Organizations
Council of Infill Builders
EAH Housing
Enterprise Community Partners
Friends Committee on Legislation of California
Funders Together to End Homelessness
Greenlining Institute
Housing California
Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity
Lift to Rise
Lived Experience Advisors
Mercy Housing California
Merritt Community Capital Corporation
Mogavero Architects
National Alliance to End Homelessness
Novin Development Corp
Planning and Conservation League
PolicyLink
Public Advocates
Rise Economy
RRM Design Group
Tenants Together
The John Stewart Company
Western Center on Law and Poverty
YIMBY Action

Bay Area Organizations

United Way Bay Area

Central Valley/Central Coast Organizations

California Central Valley Journey for Justice
Monterey County Renters United
Self-Help Enterprises

Inland Empire/Coachella Valley Organizations

Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice
Inland Equity Community Land Trust
Inland SoCal Housing Collective

Sacramento Organizations

Sacramento Housing Alliance

Southern California Organizations

Funders Together to End Homelessness San Diego
Inner City Law Center
Kitchens for Good
Many Mansions
Orange County United Way
San Diego Housing Federation
San Diego Regional Task Force on Homelessness
Southern California Association of NonProfit Housing
United Way Greater Los Angeles
WUNZ Apparel in Action