Every week at All Saints Church we put our faith into action. This week our action focuses on California’s housing crisis.

California’s housing crisis continues and while legal reforms to accelerate the building of housing has been made, more still needs to be done. This week our action concerns seven bills aimed at improving housing in California. These bills have passed one chamber of the legislature and are now in the other chamber. This week we are signing letters to our members of the State Legislature to help push these bills across the finish line and on to Governor Newsom’s desk.

There are two letters.

One letter to our members of the Assembly supporting four bills as follows:

• SB 4 will allow places of worship and nonprofit colleges to build developments that are 100% affordable for low- and moderate-income households, with an emphasis on lower-income households. It offers new tools for our community anchors to build safe, stable, affordable homes for local residents and families.

• SB 423 would preserve and enhance an existing legal tool that allows applications for badly-needed homes to be reviewed through a streamlined, ministerial process, based on objective standards, which allows housing to be built more quickly and at a lower cost.

• SB 567 revises the no-fault just cause eviction provisions of the Tenant Protection Act of 2019 (TPA) to provide additional enforcement mechanisms for violations of restrictions on residential rent increases and no-fault just cause evictions.

• SB 225 would establish the Community Anti-Displacement and Preservation Program (CAPP) to fund the acquisition and rehabilitation of unrestricted housing units and attach long-term affordability restrictions on the housing units, while safeguarding against the displacement of current residents.

The other letter is to our members of the California State Senate supporting three bills as follows:

• AB 1317 would require landlords to separate the cost of parking from the cost of rent. This allows tenants with fewer cars to save money on rent while maintaining the option of off-street parking for tenants who want it. A basic principle of fairness is that drivers should pay for their own parking, and tenants who do not want or need any parking, or excess parking, should be rewarded with lower rent.

• AB 1287 would help by creating a supplemental density bonus for projects that include homes affordable to moderate income households. These changes would produce several benefits. Firstly, the supplemental density bonus would create more housing opportunities for moderate income households and other households at a variety of income levels. Secondly, exclusive coastal areas would be required to do more to open housing opportunities to people at a variety of income levels. This is a critical component of affirmatively furthering fair housing.

• AB 1335 Transportation planning and land use: sustainable communities’ strategy. Uncoordinated regional planning for housing makes it harder to address the housing affordability and climate crises. SB 375 created a requirement for regional councils of governments, also known as Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs), to include a Sustainable Communities Strategy (SCS) as part of their Regional Transportation Plans (RTP/SCS). AB 1335 would help by making two changes. The first is requiring local governments to report on what, if anything, they are doing to align their land use regulations with the applicable SCS. The second change is requiring that each council of governments that prepares an RTP/SCS use a similar population projection method to that used in the Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) process.

Options to Take Action:

1. Sign a letter at the Action Table on Sunday.
2. Click on the links and download, sign and mail the action letters to our members of the legislature: Action Letter for a CA State Senator, Action Letter for a CA State Assembly Member

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If you ever need to look up your member of the U.S. House of Representatives or your U.S. Senators check here: www.house.gov and www.senate.gov.

To find contact information for your California State Senator or California State Assemblymember check here: www.senate.ca.gov and www.assembly.ca.gov.