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California Social Housing Bill

About the Campaign

In order to solve the housing crisis, we must move housing from a system driven by investor profit to one that provides housing as a basic human right. Public Advocates convenes a statewide Social Housing Campaign with Housing Now! California and other partners to achieve this long-term transformation of our housing system. Across California, local organizing has already mounted campaigns to decommodify housing. This statewide campaign knits those local struggles together into a powerful statewide movement of residents and workers who can win long-term transformation. 

We have already won a huge victory — the passage of SB 555, the first statewide social housing bill in the U.S., creates a definition of social housing and requires HCD to make a plan to create “a robust sector of social housing that offers below-market rents affordable to households of all income levels who are unable to afford market rents and that is permanently shielded from the speculative market.” Specifically, the bill defines social housing as housing that

  • Is owned and managed by a public agency, a local authority, limited equity housing cooperative, or a mission-driven nonprofit entity solely for the benefit of residents and households unable to afford market rent;
  • Accommodates a mix of households, from those with the lowest incomes to moderate-income households unable to afford market rent;
  • Provides its residents with strong protections against eviction, unaffordable rent increases, and other abuses;
  • Is permanently protected from privatization; and
  • Provides residents with the right to participate directly and meaningfully in decision-making affecting the operation and management of their homes;

Now, we are working with our partners to make sure that SB 555 actually becomes the first step in providing decommodified shelter on a large scale.

Resources

Campaign Partners