California Shifting into Subsequent Price range 12 months With a $31 Billion Surplus, Analysts Say |

By Antonio Ray Harvey, California Black Media

To improve housing access, affordability and equity, California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced the creation of a Housing Strike Force earlier this month.

The team, based at the California Department of Justice (Cal DOJ), has been tasked with enforcing California housing laws that cities across the state have circumvented or ignored.

The strike forces will hold a series of round tables across the state to educate and engage tenants and homeowners as the state puts pressure on communities for non-compliance with housing regulations and state-set housing production targets.

“California is facing a housing and affordability crisis of epic proportions,” said Bonta. “Millions of Californians worry about having a roof over their heads every day, and there are too many in this state who are lacking housing.

“This is a top priority and a struggle we will not back down from. As attorney general, I am committed to using all the tools my office has to promote the fundamental right to housing for Californians. “

The Housing Strike Force will take “an innovative and intersectional approach” to addressing the housing crisis, focusing on tenant protection, housing availability and environmental sustainability, housing affordability, and equitable and equitable housing for tenants and owners.

Bonta also launched a housing portal on the Cal DOJ website with resources and information for California homeowners and renters.

The forces will use the expertise of lawyers from the Cal DOJ’s Land Use and Conservation Division, the Consumer Protection Division, the Civil Law Enforcement Division and the Department of Environment Justice in their enforcement efforts.

“California has a golden opportunity to navigate its housing crisis with its historic $ 22 billion investment in housing and homelessness in this year’s budget. But it will only work if local governments do their part to build and approve new homes, ”said Governor Gavin Newsom. “The Attorney General’s emphasis on holding cities and counties accountable for fair housing, equity and housing is an important part of the state’s efforts to address the affordability crisis and provide greater opportunities for all Californians to have an affordable place in which to live they can call home. “

According to the National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB), the proportion of blacks nationally has fallen below levels seen in the decades when housing discrimination was legal.

The 2020 census reports that there was a 29.6% difference in home ownership rates between African Americans and whites. Homeowners made up 44.6% of the black population compared to 74.2% of whites.

“Blacks have made little, if any, progress in closing the home ownership gap. Systemic discriminatory regulations and guidelines continue to frustrate reasonable efforts to increase black home ownership, ”said Lydia Pope, President of NAREB.

In California, the DOJ reports that housing demand has overtaken housing production over the past four decades. It has created a crisis that ranges from homelessness to unaffordable homes.

Despite considerable efforts, the DOJ found that California continues to be home to a disproportionate proportion of the people who are homeless in the United States, with an estimated 150,000 Californians sleeping in shelters, in their cars, or on the streets.

Bonta said California’s 17 million renters spend a significant portion of their salaries on rent, with an estimated 700,000 Californians at risk of eviction. High home ownership costs – the average price of a single family home in California is more than $ 800,000 – have resulted in the lowest home ownership rates since the 1940s.

Due to decades of systemic racism, these challenges have continuously and disproportionately affected color communities. For example, Bonta said that nearly half of California’s black households spend more than 30% of their income on housing, compared with just a third of white families.

In addition, less than one in five black California households could afford the statewide average home for $ 659,380 in 2020, compared to two in five white California households who could afford the same average home house the California Association Realtors (CAR) said in a February 2021 statement.

The percentage of black homebuyers who could afford to buy an existing single-family home at a median price in California in 2020 was 19%, compared with 38% for white households, according to CAR.

“Just as the average home price in California hits a new record of more than $ 800,000, we’re in a real estate crisis everywhere,” Bonta said during the virtual press conference on November 3rd.

“One in four tenants of all households pays more than half of their income for rent.”

The Housing Strike Force will address the scarcity and affordability crisis by enforcing state housing and development laws independently of the Attorney General and on behalf of the DOJ’s client agencies.

Earlier this year, Newsom signed the Assembly Bill (AB) 215, which strengthens the attorney general’s role in enforcing state housing laws.

AB 215 was developed for reforms that will facilitate housing construction and combat the current housing crisis.

Newsom also signed Senate Acts (SB) 9 and SB 10 in September, laws designed to help increase the supply of affordable housing and accelerate the production of apartment buildings across the country.

Written by Senate President Pro Tem Sen. Toni Atkins (D-San Diego), SB 9 enables a homeowner to subdivide an existing single family home lot to create a duplex, triplex, or fourplex.

In response to SB 9, homeowner groups have formed across the state to fight back. The groups name challenges they expect the law to bring to their communities, from garbage collection to increased fire risk.

Livable California, a San Francisco-based nonprofit focused on housing construction, is one of the groups opposed to the new laws.

“Senate Bill 9 ends single-family home zoning to allow four houses where one is now. It was signed by Governor Newsom, supported by 73 out of 120 lawmakers, and widely recognized by the media. However, one respected pollster found that 71% of California voters are against SB 9, ”the Livable California website reads.

“It opens 1.12 million homes in severe fire areas for unmanaged density – one sixth of all single-family homes in California,” the statement said. “SB 9 could undesirably remodel hundreds of high-risk fire areas spanning urban and rural California areas.”

But Newsom says the laws are urgent and overdue.

“The housing affordability crisis is undermining the California dream for families across the state and threatening our long-term growth and prosperity,” Newsom said in a September 16 statement.

SB 10 is designed for jurisdictions that want to activate and zoning urbanized areas near transit zones, allowing up to 10 units per parcel without the supervision of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

“Passing strong housing laws is only the first step. In order to combat our serious housing shortage, these laws must be enforced consistently and vigorously, ”said Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), Senator of the Senate Housing Committee, Senator Scott Wiener. “I applaud Attorney General Bonta’s commitment to rigorous enforcement of California housing laws.”

The Housing Strike Force encourages Californians to send complaints or advice about housing to Housing@doj.ca.gov. For information on legal aid in your area, see https://lawhelpca.org.