 | “Looking to the future instead of the past... Building coalitions to meet new challenges and opportunities. Leading - always - with the example of our values…That’s what keeps us strong.”
– Barack Obama |
| Dear friends, partners, and allies, As we kick off 2022, our vision of building a California with homes, health, and wealth for all in sustainable, thriving communities remains at the forefront of our minds. While the task may feel challenging, we know that we will make meaningful strides working together in solidarity. We deeply appreciate all of you who have chosen to walk with us. Centering and amplifying the voices of our resident leadership and of those with lived experience, we move together to advance equity-centered, evidence-based solutions to end the housing injustice that has disproportionately affected BIPOC community members. Housing CA continues to broaden our tent by coming together across sectors, building mutual trust, speaking with a shared voice, and collectively advancing a shared vision and framework of equitable policy solutions designed to get us where we need to go. |
| On that note, we welcome our incoming new Board Members, who have committed to guiding Housing CA, creating opportunities for growth, and advancing bold solutions that will ensure all Californians have a stable place to call home. |
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| | | | | Abram Diaz, Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California (NPH) |
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Kendra Noel Lewis, Sacramento Housing Alliance |
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Marianne Lim, EAH Housing (California Coalition for Rural Housing Representative) |
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Monica S. Sousa, California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc. |
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| We are grateful for the continued support and engagement from all of our Board members, partners and allies. Building coalitions is essential to our advocacy work. Led by our values, we will stay strong and work together to realize a better future for all Californians. In solidarity, strength, and gratitude, The Housing California Team |
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| Help Grow the Housing Justice Movement Achieving housing justice in California so everyone has a stable, affordable place to call home requires a relentless commitment to shaping a new narrative, building and shifting power, and advocating for structural and systems change. Will you help us by making a donation or joining Housing CA as a member? With your support, we can secure the resources needed to create more affordable homes, build stronger coalitions, and shape the discourse around homelessness and housing affordability. |
| | | | | Annual Conference 2022 Housing CA is excited to see you all at our upcoming Annual Conference from April 4-6, 2022 where we’ll join housing, homelessness, and multi-sector leaders and advocates to take the next steps in our journey toward homes, health, and wealth for all Californians. As we continue to monitor developments around the highly transmissible Omicron COVID-19 variant, the health and safety of conference attendees is our top priority. |
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| Having reviewed recent recommended safety measures based on the most up-to-date local, state, and federal guidance, the format of our conference will follow a hybrid model. We will be sending an email with more detailed information in the near future. Registration information will be available next week. In the meantime, it isn’t too late to become a sponsor! Click here to learn more. |
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| | Roadmap Home 2030 Celebrates its 2021 Accomplishments The Roadmap Home 2030, a coalition, initiated and led by Housing California and California Housing Partnership, launched our 10-year plan last year to end the housing and homelessness crisis in California—and what a landmark year it was. |
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| The Roadmap Home 2030, a coalition, initiated and led by Housing California and California Housing Partnership, launched our 10-year plan last year to end the housing and homelessness crisis in California—and what a landmark year it was. In 2021, we accomplished some incredible things together, including: - launched publicly with over 1,000 supporters in attendance;
- saw over 20 Roadmap-aligned bills introduced on the CA legislative floor;
- received endorsements from more than 40 statewide organizational allies;
- advocated for bills to create long-term change including AB 816, AB 1043, AB 1220, and AB 1304, which were signed into law; and
- helped to secure a historic $12 billion investment in our state budget to fund housing affordability and homelessness solutions.
We believe transparent reporting leads to real results. In this spirit, we created the Roadmap Home 2021 End of Year Report to assess our leaders’ performances against our core goals. We encourage you to take a look, join us in celebrating our victories, and reflect on areas where we must continue to make progress in 2022. Preparing for the Future Join us for the Roadmap Home’s Year 2 virtual kickoff on Friday, February 4 at 12:00pm as we look ahead to the 2022 legislative session, discuss our priorities for the year, and unpack the ups and downs of 2021. Register today by clicking here. Tribal Listening Session We are looking forward to our upcoming listening session with the Northern Circle Indian Housing Authority on February 11, where we will hear from tribal members and leaders about the unique structure of tribal governance, the housing needs of tribal communities, and proposed solutions to address current housing challenges. This event is part of ongoing efforts by the Roadmap Home coalition to include the voices of underserved communities and ensure everyone has a seat at the table as we work to end homelessness and create more affordable housing throughout the state. We will send an email inviting members, partners, and supporters to join us. If you would like to learn more, please email JRamirez@housingca.org. |
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| | | In California, an estimated 20% of people discharged from prison each year experience homelessness. In fact, people on parole are about 10 times more likely to experience homelessness than the general public and have great difficulties accessing housing and employment. To help better understand the housing needs and particular challenges of those exiting the criminal justice system, we asked RUN leader Keith Arivnwine to share his own story. Amplifying the voices of those most affected by systemic and institutional barriers to stable housing helps more people understand the issue and support the evidence-based solutions we know will work. Read more |
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| | | RUN leaders quickly jumped into advocacy in 2022, making calls in favor of AB 328 starting on January 5. So many RUN members have personal experience leaving prison and struggling to find housing - or they have friends and family members in that same situation, so AB 328’s focus on re-entry housing is important to us. We called our Assembly targets each week during Community Care calls and phonebanked to encourage inactive members to support the bill. Unfortunately, despite a positive op-ed in the LA Times, the bill did not get out of the Appropriations Committee and was held on January 20. The bill author, Assemblymember Isaac Bryan of Culver City, will join RUN at the Community Care call on February 2. |
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| RUN members are also working with Amber-Lee Leslie, legislative advocate for land use and finance, to seek an author for a bill that would make it easier to apply for affordable housing. So many RUN members went through a stressful process of applying in person to upwards of 30 units, each with different requirements and fees. The process is even more challenging for monolingual Spanish speakers. A centralized web portal would ease the process by a lot, and RUN members said that was a priority this year. RUN members are in the process of attending meetings with potential bill authors to share why this bill would be helpful for them. Upcoming Events and Trainings It’s been a minute since RUN held a storytelling training, which is the first step in learning how to advocate for residents of affordable housing, people who have lived experience of homelessness, and tenants. Brand-new beginners, people who are a little rusty, and veteran RUN members can join us at three trainings in February related to storytelling: February 9 Training: Storytelling training #1 February 16 Training: Storytelling training #2 February 23 Training: Advanced media training (for Storytelling #1 and #2 attendees) To learn more about training and events planned for 2022, click here. |
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| | Legislature The Legislature is in the second year of a 2-year cycle, meaning they will be working to move forward 2-year bills this month while simultaneously introducing new bills. Housing CA has prioritized two 2-year bills: AB 328 (Bryan) and SB 490 (Caballero). AB 328, a bill that would have established the Re-entry Housing Program by reallocating cost savings from prison closures towards housing and supportive services for formerly incarcerated people, was held in Assembly Appropriations. Housing CA and RUN leaders are working alongside Asm. Isaac Bryan and a broad coalition of housing, reentry, and economic justice organizations to introduce a similar bill to advance re-entry housing justice this year. SB 490 (Caballero) would create a technical assistance program that would supplement our budget proposal to provide acquisition capital for the preservation of existing housing in which low-income people live. SB 490 passed on the Senate Floor on Thursday, January 24, with a unanimous vote. It is now in the Assembly and awaiting its Committee assignments. Housing CA continues to flesh out our 2022 policy agenda beyond our 2-year bills. Please visit and bookmark our Policy Agenda webpage to learn more. Budget Summary On January 10, Governor Newsom released his budget proposal. While we applaud Governor Newsom's continued commitment to addressing the housing affordability and homelessness crisis, we see more opportunities to create affordable homes for all struggling Californians, end homelessness, protect renters from displacement, and close racial equity gaps. Our own Policy Director Chris Martin shared some of his thoughts in this CalMatters article. Housing CA released our budget letter on January 21. Included in the letter are investments in rental assistance for people experiencing homelessness, scaling affordable housing development, investing in the re-entry housing and workforce development program, and more. Last year, our collective advocacy contributed to the unprecedented $12 billion in investments in affordable housing and homelessness. Housing CA will continue to partner strategically and lean heavily into budget advocacy this year. |
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| | | Since the Build Back Better Act (BBBA) was introduced in September of 2021, Housing CA has joined the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) and advocates throughout the US to call on Congress to prioritize affordable housing investments and policies in the final budget reconciliation bill. |
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| On December 19, Senator Joe Manchin announced that he would not support the BBBA. Negotiations on the BBBA will continue between President Biden, Senator Manchin, and Congressional leadership, but we have heard from our partners at the NLIHC that Congress will not return to the BBBA until March or later. In the meantime, Congress will be taking up the annual federal appropriations bill. We must keep voicing support for the BBBA. Take action today, click here to learn more. |
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| | | Housing California
1107 9th Street, Suite 560 | Sacramento, California 95814
916-447-0503 | staff@housingca.org |
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