By Susannah Parsons, Director of Legislation and Policy
Final status of the bills mentioned in this post, after the October 12th signing deadline:
- AB 246: Social Security Tenant Protection Act of 2025
- Establishes a targeted, temporary pause on eviction proceedings for Social Security recipients (including SSI) if federal payments are disrupted.
- Status: Signed into law
- AB 736 & SB 417: The Affordable Housing Bond Act of 2026
- Twin bills that would place a $10 billion affordable housing bond on the 2026 ballot.
- Status: Stalled for 2025 session, moving again in 2026
- AB 1157: Affordable Rent Act
- Strengthens tenant protections by reducing rent caps, making them permanent, and extending them to single-family homes and condominiums.
- Status: Stalled for 2025 session, moving again in 2026
- AB 804: Medi-Cal: housing support services
- Makes housing-related services a fully covered benefit under Medi-Cal.
- Status: Held in committee
- AB 699 – Voter Transparency Act
- Authorizes local governments to include technical financial information about bonds or tiered tax rates in the voter guide, rather than the ballot label.
- Status: Vetoed
- SB 79 – Housing development: transit-oriented development
- Allows upzoning and rezoning to legalize the construction of more multifamily residential housing near major transit stops, including in areas currently zoned for single-family homes.
- Status: Signed into law
- SB 634: Local government: homelessness
- Prohibits local jurisdictions from passing local ordinances that prevent individuals and service providers from “aiding and abetting” homeless people
- Status: Signed into law
- SB 606: HHAP program: reporting requirements: functional zero unsheltered
- Imposes reporting requirements on jurisdictions regarding progress to achieve functional zero for unsheltered homelessness,
- Status: Held in committee
- SB 16: Ending Street Homelessness Act
- Creates a range of new requirements and incentives to support the expansion of interim housing.
- Status: Stalled for 2025 session, moving again in 2026
- AB 255: The Supportive-Recovery Residence Program
- Allows up to 10% of State homelessness program funds to be spent on Supportive Recovery Residences.
- Status: Vetoed
- AB 57: California Dream for All Program: descendants of formerly enslaved people
- Allocates a portion of California’s Housing Finance Agency’s Home Purchase Assistance Funds to first-time home buyers who are descendants of enslaved people.
- Status: Vetoed
- SB 518: Descendants of enslaved persons: reparations
- Establishes the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery to define “descendants”
- Status: Signed into law
- AB 62: Civil Rights Department: racially motivated eminent domain
- Creates a process for compensating or restoring property to families whose land was seized through racially discriminatory uses of eminent domain.
- Status: Vetoed
After another busy legislative session, we’re digesting a range of outcomes relevant to addressing homelessness, poverty, racial equity, and affordability in California. While the story isn’t over yet—many bills will remain on Governor Newsom’s desk until his deadline to sign them on October 12—here are our top takeaways. Read the post for all the details:
- Funding for homelessness and housing remains very tight and uncertain, though we saw some wins this year. It was a tough budget year for homelessness, though housing programs generally avoided deep cuts. A statewide bond for the November ballot 2026 didn’t pass yet, but will hopefully move forward in early 2026. The state’s largest program to fund affordable housing (near transit, yay!) survived intense Cap and Trade negotiations intact. Major federal cuts to housing and homelessness programs loom large on the horizon, threatening what progress we’ve been able to make at the state and local levels.
- Systemic changes are happening, at least in a piecemeal fashion. The creation of a new CA Housing and Homelessness Agency bodes well for creating more effective and cohesive systems in the future. Significant CEQA reforms broke through this year—time will tell how quickly they lead to more housing. A bill we co-sponsored will provide more transparency and clarity about local bonds for housing and infrastructure.
- Evidence-based homelessness policy and practice is at risk, but so far CA is (mostly) holding the line. One bill passed to safeguard the ability of local non-profits to serve people experiencing unsheltered homelessness. Misguided efforts to improve accountability that would have been overly burdensome and counterproductive were rejected, while a move to provide more flexibility/funding for sober-living transitional housing options moved ahead (with All Home’s measured support).
- Significant housing-related reparations bills are headed to the Governor’s desk. Reparations bills have made it farther than ever before—read on to learn the details.
Funding is precarious, but there are reasons for hope and wins to celebrate.
After a tough budget year that brought a 50% reduction in the State’s largest homelessness program, we remain on shaky ground, especially as major federal cuts to housing programs loom. Cuts to Medicaid and food stamps are already on the books, which will push more people into homelessness and housing insecurity, and increase pressure on state and local governments to fill gaps. Further federal action could put even more programs and people in jeopardy—we’re watching an unfolding legal battle that would jeopardize California’s access to one federal homelessness program, and advocating to prevent an even greater potential threat to Continuums of Care.
Federal budget cuts to Medicaid and safety net programs have already prompted state legislative action, including AB 246 (Bryan), which would institute an eviction moratorium if social security payments are disrupted. As further impacts of federal cuts reach California, expect more such action and budget implications next year.
Luckily, California’s affordable housing programs largely survived the budget process, as well as the intense negotiations around Cap and Trade (now called Cap and Invest), that just concluded this month.
The Governor already signed the new Cap and Invest package, which sustains the 20% allocation of revenue from greenhouse gas emissions fees for the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities program (AHSC). AHSC is the state’s largest source of funding for affordable housing, and it goes to projects near transit, which is exactly where we should be prioritizing new construction, since it reduces driving and emissions, the need to build expensive parking, and transportation costs for low-income residents (to name just a few of the many benefits).
Despite growing momentum among stakeholders and strong support in the Assembly, the bills that would place a $10 billion affordable housing bond on the 2026 ballot (AB 736 and SB 417) were stalled in the Senate amidst a leadership change. It’s a setback, but advocates are still confident the bond will move forward in January
.Another All Home priority, AB 1157, was made a two-year bill, which means it will get another shot next year. AB 1157 would strengthen tenant protections by eliminating the 2030 sunset date for California’s rent caps, making protections permanent and extending them to single family homes and condominiums. The bill would also reduce the rent cap from 5% plus inflation to 2% plus inflation, and extend Just Cause eviction protections to all residential homes.
We were disappointed that AB 804 (Wicks) was also held this year; the bill would make housing-related services like housing navigation and move-in assistance a fully covered benefit under Medi-Cal.
Systems change, piece by piece.
We are very pleased to see the creation of a new California Housing and Homelessness Agency (CHHA) to oversee housing production, preservation, homelessness solutions, and safeguard civil rights. This is an important first step to enable a more efficient and productive housing finance system in California. Planning and design for the organizational transition is already underway. The new agency will be operational in July 2026.
All Home’s co-sponsored bill, AB 699 (Stefani), is also headed to the Governor’s desk. For proposed local bonds or certain tax measures, current law requires that the ballot label include a host of complex tax and financial information in under 75 words. There is little space left to describe what the revenues raised by the measure would be used for and their benefits to the community, and as a result, voters get confused and often vote “No.” AB 699 allows a jurisdiction to put this detailed information in the ballot guide, saving space in the ballot label to describe the purpose of a local bond or tax in plain language.
This year’s budget was also passed with major reforms to the California Environmental Quality Act, including exemptions for infill housing development, which will hopefully unlock more housing production across the state.
SB 79 (Wiener) is also headed to the Governor’s desk. This bill will allow upzoning and rezoning to legalize the construction of more multifamily residential housing near major transit stops, including in areas currently zoned for single-family homes. This is a controversial change that has been attempted several times over the last several years, and has the potential to significantly increase the amount of infill housing in California.
Evidence-based homelessness policy and practice is at risk
With the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Grants Pass v. Johnson last year, encampments have become an even greater focus of legislative attention at all levels of government. The Trump Administration is attacking best practices for addressing homelessness and pushing counterproductive ideas that would profoundly damage homelessness response systems. It’s more important than ever that California hold the line for common sense solutions.
One bill on the Governor’s desk, SB 634 (Perez), would prohibit jurisdictions from passing local ordinances that prevent individuals and service providers from “aiding and abetting” homeless people (as Fremont attempted earlier this year).
There is little agreement but much spinning of wheels among the Governor, legislature, and stakeholders on what accountability measures are needed to accelerate progress on reducing homelessness. Governor Newsom has pushed for jurisdictions to spend their money more quickly and to clear encampments, while other bills sought to establish more explicit roles and responsibilities between state and local governments. SB 606 (Becker), which would have imposed burdensome reporting requirements on jurisdictions about progress to achieve functional zero for unsheltered homelessness, was held in Assembly Appropriations. SB 16 (Blakespear) initially proposed that counties fund a minimum amount of shelter costs for the cities within their jurisdiction, and later versions would create a range of new requirements and incentives to support the expansion of interim housing. SB 16 has been made a two-year bill.
All Home also supported a somewhat controversial bill that is on the Governor’s desk, AB 255 (Haney). It would allow up to 10% of State homelessness program funds to be spent on Supportive Recovery Residences—permanent housing for residents pursuing addiction recovery who wish to live in an environment that emphasizes abstinence. While some saw this as an erosion of Housing First principles, we listened to people with lived experience of homelessness and pushed for amendments that would protect tenants and make this a reasonable pathway to provide much-needed sober-living housing options for people who want them. See our support letter to learn more.
Promising progress on reparations
As part of a larger multi-year effort to advance reparations for Black Californians descended from enslaved people, a few important housing bills have been passed by the Legislature and await the Governor’s signature. These bills are inspired by the 2023 report of the California Reparations Task Force, and are being championed by the California Legislative Black Caucus,
- AB 57 (McKinnor) would allocate a portion of California’s Housing Finance Agency’s Home Purchase Assistance Funds to first-time home buyers who are descendants of enslaved people, but will only become operative if SB 518 (Weber Pierson), which would establish the Bureau of Descendants of American Slavery to certify if an individual is a descendant of slaves, is passed and takes effect by January 1, 2027.
- AB 62 (McKinnor) would create a process for compensating or restoring property to families whose land was seized through racially discriminatory uses of eminent domain. The California Civil Rights Department would be responsible for reviewing claims.
The passage of these bills, which have made it further than any reparations proposals in previous years, would be a major step forward for equity and housing justice in California.
We’ll update this post after the signing deadline on October 12 to note which bills will become law in California.
