For Immediate Release: December 8, 2020
Contact: Iris Murillo | imurillo@housingca.org | (916) 287-9831
Statement on the CA Senate Housing Package
The following statement can be attributed to Lisa Hershey, Executive Director:
We are encouraged that the Senate continues to prioritize housing this year. We look forward to working with the Senate to ensure that any housing package focuses on solutions that we know will build homes targeted at those struggling the most to make ends meet, ensure that renters can stay in their homes, and help Californians exit homelessness.
Long term, we need a clear plan to tackle our state’s affordable housing and homelessness challenges. That’s why Housing California is proud to co-lead — with California Housing Partnership — the Roadmap HOME 2030 initiative, which sets forth a bold, 10-year strategic vision and a comprehensive framework of evidence-based policy solutions that center racial justice.
There is much more the state can do to create new opportunities to site affordable housing and accelerate production of this vital resource, all while keeping the cost and timeline of development within reach. We remain committed to finding win-win solutions that will significantly increase the availability of affordable housing, and we’re ready to do the work to get there.
With the most recent housing bond set to expire, we are pleased at the inclusion of a new bond in the package. That said, we need funding that meets the scale of the need and is ongoing. That’s what we are pursuing with Assemblywoman Rivas and other partners through the Bring California Home initiative and AB 71.
The Roadmap HOME initiative, paired with adequate funding and innovative policy solutions, will ensure we aren’t just chipping away at the problem, but solving it, as Californians expect their elected leaders to do.
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