California governor signs package of bills giving state more power to enforce housing laws

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California cities will soon face more state scrutiny — and new penalties — for pushing back on housing and homeless shelter construction, according to a package of laws signed Thursday by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Newsom has been cracking down on what he sees as local resistance and defiance of state laws in the face of California’s desperate need for new housing. The crisis has prompted a surge in the homeless population in the nation’s most populous state.

California has ramped up enforcement of state housing laws the last few years. It sued at least two cities last year for rejecting affordable housing projects and homes for homeless people. At the bill signing ceremony at an affordable housing site in San Francisco, Newsom also blasted the Southern California city of Norwalk for extending its temporary ban on new homeless shelters and affordable housing.

“They didn’t even want to zone or support any supportive housing in their community,” Newsom said Thursday. “This is the original sin in this state, decades and decades in the making.”

Newsom signed a total of 32 housing proposals Thursday.

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Supporters said the new laws are crucial for building more housing at all price levels and preventing local governments from skirting state laws.

Cities and counties will be required to plan for housing for very low-income people, streamline permitting processes and expand some renters’ protection. The attorney general will be allowed to pursue civil penalties upward of $50,000 a month against cities or counties for offenses such as failing to adopt a housing plan as required by the state.

“With this clarity, with this structure, we believe that all of our incredible, good-faith-acting cities following the law will help us get to where we need to go,” Attorney General Rob Bonta said Thursday.

The laws will likely escalate the conflict between the state and local governments over how many housing projects cities should approve, and how fast they should build them. California needs to build 2.5 million homes by 2030 to keep up with demand, according to the California Department of Housing and Community Development. But the state only averages about 100,000 new homes per year, including only 10,000 affordable units.

The “loaded” and out-of-touch laws will hurt communities and allow courts to make local housing decisions, said Republican state Sen. Roger Niello.

“It is all, as has been the governor’s approach to homelessness, a top-down approach,” he said.

The Democratic governor, who has ambitions on the national stage, has made housing and homelessness a top priority as California’s leader. His administration has spent roughly $40 billion to help build affordable housing and $27 billion in homelessness solutions. Earlier this summer, he started to pressure local governments to clean up encampments that have lined up the streets and crowded business’ entrances, going as far as threatening to withhold state funding next year if he doesn’t see results.