Can New Legislation Help Remedy the State’s Housing Crisis?

Or is it too little too late?

As the median home price climbs and rents soars for residents, California’s in the midst of an historic affordable housing crisis. Sacramento is taking steps to curb this trend, but can they succeed this late in the game?

According to the New York Times, “the California Legislature passed 15 housing bills in a sweeping attempt to tame the state’s astronomical cost of living. Each bill has a different target, but they all aim to increase the pace of new housing construction.

“Two of the bills, SB2 and SB3, provide new funding for subsidized affordable housing. Two other measures will make it harder for cities to block new projects: SB35 will streamline the approval process in cities that have fallen behind state housing goals, while SB167 will make it harder for cities to deny home building that complies with local rules.

“Gov. Jerry Brown is expected to sign all of the bills.

“‘This shows that housing has risen to the top of the agenda in California,’ said Scott Wiener, the state senator from San Francisco who wrote SB35.”

You can read the full NYT article and more on the individual bills here.