Gavin Newsom wants California cities to plan housing for homeless — without enough money to fund it

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California Gov. Gavin Newsom is sponsoring a bill that would push cities to take homeless residents into account when crafting their housing goals.

But would this legislation actually result in more affordable housing? There are concerns the state is not providing enough money to get it built.

Cities have struggled to meet their state-mandated goalposts when it comes to permitting low-income units. Some advocates say planning is an empty promise without more money to build the housing.

“Gov. Newsom continues to ignore the elephant in the room — that local jurisdictions cannot meet their housing goals at lower income levels without significant additional public funding,” said Amy Schur of Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment in a statement.

When asked on Friday how cities are supposed to build more affordable housing without more money, Newsom referred to $6.4 billion in Proposition 1 bond funding that will provide housing and treatment facilities for those struggling with mental illness and addiction. But that money won’t apply to most of the affordable housing cities and counties need to build.

Proposition 1 will likely result in about 4,300 units, according to a Legislative Analyst’s Office report. That housing will serve only individuals dealing with specific problems, not the entire homeless and low income population.

When pressed about Proposition 1 deficiencies, Newsom referred to billions of dollars the state has previously spent on other homelessness initiatives, including Homekey and Roomkey. Those programs helped house homeless residents temporarily and permanently in hotel rooms and other repurposed buildings.

Housing the neediest Californians

The governor’s proposal, which he first announced in April, would require cities and jurisdictions to add new categories to the Regional Housing Needs Allocation, or RHNA, plans they must complete on five- or eight-year cycles.

Assemblyman Chris Ward, D-San Diego, announced last week he had authored Assembly Bill 3093 to meet that goal. Ward serves as chair of the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee.

As the RHNA system currently functions, the state provides cities with goals laying out the number of new housing units they need to zone for during the five- or eight-year period. Cities must plan for a certain number of units across affordability levels, from above-moderate income levels to very low income levels.

Newsom and Ward’s bill would add two new categories to the RHNA framework: extremely low income and acutely low income.

Those considered extremely low income would earn between 15% and 30% of the area median income, while those in the acutely low income category would take in 15% or less.

Currently, local governments must include analyses of housing needs for extremely low income families in their plans. They are not required to zone for units affordable to extremely and acutely low income people.

Ward said housing for acutely low income residents — some of whom are likely homeless — could potentially include supportive housing or tiny homes, but specifics “can be further teased out by the local planning efforts.”

Would more planning help?

California Department of Housing and Community Development data on the fifth RHNA cycle that recently ended shows the state as a whole exceeded its permitting goals for above-moderate income housing. However, it performed dismally in the low income and very low income categories.

California jurisdictions permitted only about 33% of the units included in their low income housing unit goal. They permitted just 22% of the very low income units needed.

When asked about how adding new goals will actually ensure units get built, Ward said the answer is “really embedded in so much of the other work that we’re doing right now on the policy front to be able to help construction move faster, to reduce costs, to be able to better guarantee production at all levels.”

The Legislature during the past two years has approved bills meant to help developers get around cumbersome local governmental approval processes if they build in specific areas, use certain types of labor and meet required affordability standards.

Ward cited as further help a $10 billion affordable housing bond Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland, is pushing to get on the November ballot.

“We are looking for new solutions,” he said. “And then also market-based solutions that are going to help to produce more housing in the long run. All of these are tied together.”

The revised budget Newsom presented on Friday would trim more funds from affordable housing programs, in addition to the $1.2 billion in cuts he proposed in January.

The new reductions would cut $360 million from two programs used to adapt commercial buildings into housing and to help developers acquire or rehabilitate properties facing foreclosure. This funding loss would eliminate the programs, according to the budget revision summary.

Newsom’s proposal would also slash the remaining $75 million left for a program that provides loans for low income rental housing development. That multifamily housing program already took a $250 million hit in the governor’s January budget proposal.

Even so, the governor’s budget would allocate $500,000 for low income housing tax credits that provide important incentives for developers to build affordable housing.

Schur still thinks the state needs to spend more on housing.

“It’s high time for the governor to stop with his ‘no new taxes’ pledge, stop thinking about his next election, and start raising taxes on more of the huge wealth in California that’s in the hands of big corporations,” Schur said in her statement.

The Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee will hold a hearing for the bill on Tuesday morning.