Newsom signs housing bills, help for veterans

SAN FRANCISCO - Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday signed into law a housing package to help address homelessness statewide.

Speaking in San Francisco, Newsom also announced the release of up to $2.2 billion in funding for HomeKey and permanent supportive housing — with half reserved for veterans — to be made available ahead of schedule through Proposition 1. The HomeKey housing is expected to create more than 4,000  new permanent housing units for people with mental health and housing challenges. 

"No more excuses," Newsom said. "California is taking action to fix the decades-long homelessness, housing, and mental health crises. These new laws — paired with the state's unprecedented resources — will deliver more housing, get people off the streets, and provide life-changing support that will benefit all Californians." 

Newsom said the new laws will:

• Mandate that cities plan for housing to help vulnerable residents, including people experiencing homelessness and who are impoverished.
• Create stricter timelines and more robust requirements for local governments to report on housing progress and provide clear notice to the public.
• Strengthen enforcement and penalties on cities and counties that fail to adopt housing element revisions or approve housing developments.
• Streamline housing production by reducing bureaucratic barriers, promoting housing near transit, and providing incentives for senior housing, student housing, and accessory dwelling units.

Assemblywoman Bucky Wicks thanked Newsom for signing her bill regarding affordability and site criteria into law.

And she spoke about her own life and humble beginnings. 

"I don't come from a lot," she said. "I grew up in a trailer."

When she was little, Wicks said she was really embarrassed to tell people where she lived, even though as she grew older, she realized that her trailer provided her housing security. 

"That trailer allowed me to go to community college and to access the ladder, to go from working class to middle class," she said. "And that opportunity is not afforded to so many people today, particularly our Black and brown communities."

She said she went into politics to ensure that "every young person has that housing security, despite what type of roof is over their head." 

In 2023, roughly 181,000 Californians experienced homelessness, with approximately 90,000 people in unsheltered conditions. 

Most people who enter homelessness are rent-burdened and cite economic hardship such as increased rent or housing costs, Newsom's office said. 

Thursday's announcement follows Newsom’s recent executive order that urges local governments to address unsanitary and dangerous encampments within their communities and provide people experiencing homelessness in the encampments with the care and supportive services they need.

Here is a partial list of the bills signed into law:

• AB 3093 by Assemblymember Chris Ward — Land use: housing element
• AB 1886 by Assemblymember David Alvarez — Housing Element Law: substantial compliance: Housing Accountability Act
• AB 1893 by Assemblymember Buffy Wicks —  Housing Accountability Act: housing disapprovals: required local findings
• AB 2023 by Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva — Housing Element: Inventory of Land: Substantial Compliance: Rebuttable Presumptions
• SB 1037 by Senator Scott Wiener — Planning and zoning: housing element: enforcement
• AB 2243 by Assemblymember Buffy Wicks —  Housing development projects: objective standards: affordability and site criteria