Governor Newson Signs Legislation to Increase Affordable Housing

By Teresa Anderson, Public Policy Director, The Arc/UCP California Collaboration

Governor Gavin Newsom signed a package of bills last week that aims to increase access to affordable housing. Among the bills signed are several that will permit the building of affordable housing on five state owned properties under the Excess Land for Affordable Housing Program. To date, this successful program has brought 16 partnerships between the state, affordable housing developers, and local communities to produce sustainable, innovative, and cost-effective housing on state-owned excess sites, creating a pipeline of more than 4,400 new homes in various stages of development.

The new sites include former office buildings of the state Water Resources Board in Fresno, former offices of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation in Covina, a single-story commercial building in Midtown Sacramento, a vacant California Department of Transportation site in Oceanside, and a buffer zone near the Atascadero State Hospital in Atascadero. More information about this program can be found here:
https://www.dgs.ca.gov/RESD/Projects/Page-Content/Projects-List-Folder/Executive-Order-N-06-19-Affordable-Housing-Development