Sacramento, CA—On Monday, February 14 District 30 Assemblyman Robert Rivas (D-Salinas) and District 65 Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk-Silva (D-Fullerton) introduced Assembly Bill 2094, which will improve data collection on housing production for homeless and housing-insecure residents around the state. Specifically, this legislation will require local jurisdictions to clarify their progress toward building new units for extremely low-income households as part of existing reporting requirements. AB 2094 is co-sponsored by All Home and Housing California.
Under existing law, local jurisdictions must allocate a certain number of sites for Extremely-Low Income (ELI) units, which are available to households with incomes of 0-30% of the area average median income (AMI). Local jurisdictions are required to report their progress on building various levels of low-income housing to the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), but are not required to specifically report on the number ELI units. AB 2094 will require that the form to report progress to HCD adds an additional column to report progress on ELI units. The bill will not change the housing element nor RHNA allocations for any jurisdiction.
“Accurate data is critical to addressing California’s homelessness crisis,” said Assemblymember Robert Rivas (D-Salinas). “When local jurisdictions provide comprehensive data on the work they are already doing, the state can better track the housing that is being built for residents who may be homeless, on the verge of homelessness, or living in extremely overcrowded conditions—including many people of color.”
A recent report by the Terner Center for Housing Innovation and All Home about housing insecurity for people with extremely low incomes showed a severe shortage of ELI housing in California and highlighted the extremely low-income population’s particular vulnerability to homelessness. By improving data collection on ELI housing production, the state will be better able to identify future policy and funding needs.
“If we’re going to make a dent in our housing supply crisis, we must direct our resources strategically and make investments that consider the needs of all Californians,” said Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva (D-Fullerton). “AB2904 will help our state better identify housing availability for all income levels and make investments to increase housing opportunities for those with extremely low incomes.”
“Our research has shown that most people with ELI in the Bay Area receive no housing subsidies or supports whatsoever, the supply of homes affordable to them is vastly inadequate, and many are just one financial emergency away from homelessness,” said Tomiquia Moss, the CEO and Founder of All Home. “This bill will provide some transparency to ensure we meet our existing commitments to the poorest residents of our state.”
“About half of all people with extremely low incomes are children or seniors, and almost half of working-age adults with ELI are doing essential jobs,” Moss added. “These Californians have been
overlooked and let down for too long.”
Some communities are already benefitting from examining their own ELI data. "We've seen firsthand the value of capturing data on deeply affordable housing stock in developing smart policy that's helping our communities end and prevent homelessness," said Jennifer Loving, CEO of Destination: Home. “The City of San Jose and County of Santa Clara are among those that already track this data and have allocated significant development resources for ELI housing production, because they know that a severe lack of housing affordable to extremely low-income households is a main driver of homelessness.”
Speaking to current reporting laws, Amber-Lee Leslie of Housing California explained that “we don’t have data to track housing production for extremely low-income Californians. This bill addresses critical gaps in data that will improve our ability to plan for and actually build the ELI housing California so desperately needs.”
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