News
PRESS RELEASES
February 18, 2025
Asm. Wicks and Sen. Cabaldon Move Forward to Tackle Crushing Housing Costs; Jointly Unveil $10 Billion Affordable Housing Bond Proposals
SACRAMENTO – Today, Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland) and Senator Christopher Cabaldon (D-Yolo) introduced Assembly Bill 736 and Senate Bill 417, legislation that would place a bond measure on the June 2026 ballot to provide $10 billion to California’s affordable housing programs.
The two bond proposals share the same name, the Affordable Housing Bond Act of 2026, and similar goals, authorizing $10 billion in general obligation bonds to provide funding for affordable rental housing for lower-income families, homeownership opportunities, and supportive housing for people experiencing homelessness. A recent impact analysis found the bonds would result in more than 35,000 new homes affordable to very-low income, extremely-low income, and homeless families, including set-asides for farmworker and tribal housing. Bond funds would also preserve and rehabilitate tens of thousands of homes and assist over 13,000 families in becoming homeowners.
HOUSING BOND IN THE NEWS
KQED
April 30, 2025
Affordable Housing Developers Say They Need Steady Cash. Will California Provide It?
After years’ worth of California housing legislation aimed at streamlining and shortening the process to start building, affordable housing developers say they still face one major obstacle: money.
CALMATTERS
March 4, 2025
‘Too damn hard to build’: A key California Democrat’s push for speedier construction
A California legislator wants to solve the state’s housing crisis, juice its economy, fight climate change and save the Democratic Party with one “excruciatingly non-sexy” idea.
San Jose Mercury News
February 19, 2025
After it failed to make the ballot last year, is there enough support for state’s $10 billion housing bond?
Oakland Asm. Buffy Wicks is back with a proposal to fund affordable housing, after it failed to make it to the November ballot last year.
KQED
November 24, 2024
California Housing Projects Face ‘Financing Drought’ After Proposition 5’s Defeat
The future’s looking grim for affordable housing projects across California.
Housing developers and advocates hung their hopes on Proposition 5, a measure rejected by voters that would have made it easier to raise local funding for affordable housing and …
