The ABAG Executive Board and MTC Commissioners have voted to endorse Assembly Constitutional Amendment 14, which would dedicate 5% from the state’s General Fund each year over a 10-year period to address California’s affordable housing and homelessness crisis.
The amendment, dubbed the Housing Opportunities for Everyone (HOPE) Act, is being proposed by Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland, chair of the Assembly Committee on Housing and Community Development.
Based on 2022 budget revenues of $200 billion, the investment from the general fund would be approximately $10 billion each year to combat the affordable housing and homelessness crises.
Funds would be reserved for: Housing and services to prevent homelessness; development, acquisition, rehabilitation, and preservation of rental housing for extremely low, very low, and low-income households; and affordable home ownership opportunities for low- and moderate-income households.
Wicks’ office estimates that ACA 14 would house at least 50,000 people who are homeless and build an additional 40,000 affordable housing units each year.
The amendment requires a two-thirds majority vote in both houses in Sacramento. Voters then would have to OK a ballot measure in November.