advocacy - San Gabriel Valley Habitat for Humanity

what is advocacy?

Habitat for Humanity defines “advocacy” as changing policies and systems to eliminate barriers to adequate, affordable housing in order to create a world where everyone has a decent place to live.

Every day, more families find themselves in a struggle to keep a decent roof over their heads. Caught in punishing cycles of unpredictable rent increases, overcrowded conditions, or lack of access to land and affordable financing, these families live with a constant burden of uncertainty, stress and fear. Affordable homeownership frees families and fosters the skills and confidence they need to invest in themselves and their communities. The outcomes can be long-lasting and life-changing. This is why we advocate for sound public policy in support of affordable homeownership!

stronger together

photos of SGV Habitat with local legislators - Susan Rubio, Wendy Carrillo, Maria Elena Durazo, Kathryn Barger, Emmanuel Estrada, Mary Ann Lutz, Becky Shevlin, Judy Chu, Laura Friedman, Mike Fong

There isn’t a single county in California with enough affordable homes to meet local needs.

Stable housing – housing that is safe, healthy, and affordable – is foundational to individuals and families, to the communities in which we live, and to the economies in which we all participate.

Increased family stability and economic mobility, a greater sense of dignity and civic pride, stronger and more vibrant communities that can attract and keep business and manufacturing — these are all connected to stable, decent, affordable housing.

But millions in the U.S. struggle daily with housing costs. Even before the pandemic, 1 in 3 families were already paying more than 30% of their income on housing costs. Worse, 1 in 6 families were already paying half or more on housing, a level deemed ‘severely cost-burdened.’ In the state of California, 1 in 5 households spend more than half their income on housing.

Join us in supporting efforts for more affordable places to live Raise Your Voice for Affordable Homeownership.

areas of focus

Enabling Equitable Access to Land

Land is often among the greatest costs encountered in developing homes, whether for rental or ownership. We support advocacy for policies that empower residents to guide local development and land use decisions to ensure they fully reflect community needs, particularly for populations who have been discriminated against in the past.

Expanding Resources for Affordable Home Production

Many areas across the United States are facing shortages of adequate homes and housing options, particularly ones that are affordable to those earning modest incomes. We support advocacy for policies that enable the production and preservation of homes affordable to lower-income households.

Increasing Inclusive Access to Credit

Mortgage credit is difficult, if not impossible, for many households to access, and minority and lower income applicants often have access to no types of credit at all. We support advocacy for policies that increase and broaden access to credit for underserved populations.

Developing Communities of Opportunity

A home isn’t just a building. It includes the community and resources in which you live, work, and grow. For families to achieve long-term success and stability, homes must be both well-constructed and built in an area with sufficient access to transportation, jobs, education, food, medical care, and other critical products and services.

advocacy efforts

The 2024 California State Legislative Session has concluded, and we’re pleased to report some great successes, thanks to our collective advocacy with Habitat CA this year!

While our efforts to keep CalHome funded in the 2024-25 state budget were not successful, we did lay the groundwork for a robust campaign to reinstate CalHome dollars in the next state budget to fund the production and preservation of ownership housing in our state. We also worked with housing champions in the State Legislature to further policies that remove barriers to housing production and that will support Habitat’s work specifically. We are thrilled that our sponsored bill was signed into law on 9/25/24 and that 11 of the housing bills we supported moved through both houses and to the Governor’s desk at the end of session. He signed them all as part of an extensive housing package addressing many issues along the spectrum of the housing crisis.

Here are the details on Habitat California’s sponsored bill and the bills we supported:

delegates from Habitat affiliates across California

This law imposes a state-mandated local program that creates consistency across assessors’ offices for valuing real properties with enforceable restrictions. For real property subject to a contract with a nonprofit organization that meets certain ownership and affordability requirements, including affordability resale restrictions and a recorded deed of trust in favor of a nonprofit corporation, there shall be a rebuttable presumption that the value of the real property at the time of purchase is no greater than the sum of the value of the first mortgage and any applicable down payment.

This bill requires cities to provide an estimate of the impact fees required for a proposed housing development within 10 days of the preliminary building permit application, at the developer’s request. While existing state law requires these fees to be posted online, many cities have not complied and don’t disclose them until projects are well underway.

This bill amends the Housing Accountability Act (HAA) to revise the standards a housing development project must meet in order to qualify for the “Builder’s Remedy,” which authorizes projects to bypass local development standards in jurisdictions that fail to adopt a substantially compliant housing element. This bill also expands the scope of actions that constitute disapproval of a housing development project by a local government. The purpose of the bill is to increase usage of the “Builders Remedy” and increase affordable housing development.

This bill redefines “major transit stop” for the purposes of the California Environmental Equality Act (CEQA) to contain the intersection of two or more bus routes with a frequency of service interval of 20 minutes or less, rather than 15 minutes or less, clarifying when a local jurisdiction must impose lower traffic impact fees for development within one-half mile of a “major transit stop”.

Within the existing law of the Mitigation Fee Act, and effective January 1, 2026, this bill requires local agencies that collect inclusionary housing in-lieu fees to post on their website specified information about the amount of fees collected and how they were spent.

This bill limits a local agency’s ability to collect impact fees prior to final inspection of certificate of occupancy.

This bill, for purposes what is now Proposition 5 on the November ballot, defines affordable housing to include rental housing, ownership housing, interim housing, and affordable housing programs such as downpayment assistance, first-time homebuyer programs, and owner-occupied affordable housing rehabilitation programs, that are affordable to households earning up to 150% of countywide median income. Habitat for Humanity California worked very closely with the author to ensure homeownership language had a very specific callout in this bill.

This bill will empower local governments to join forces to create regional housing finance agencies like those created by the State Legislature – the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority (BAHFA) and the Los Angeles County Affordable Housing Solutions Agency (LACAHSA) – to address the unique affordable housing needs in their communities. These agencies will be able to generate revenue for the construction, preservation, and management of affordable and missing middle housing in their region. These agencies can be formed locally without State Legislature intervention.

SB 9, passed in 2021, eliminated single family zoning by allowing homeowners to split their lots to build a duplex. Many cities have enacted onerous standards that make it impossible for homeowners to proceed with SB 9 projects.

SB 450 addresses some of the most egregious examples of bad faith SB 9 implementation:

prohibits local governments from assigning objective zoning, subdivision, or design standards to SB 9 projects that do not apply to the underlying zoning (single-unit zoning)
requires local governments to respond to SB 9 applications within 60 days, after which time the application will be deemed approved
bars local governments from denying a lot split application based on its impact on the physical environment
gives the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) oversight and enforcement authority over SB 9

This bill allows homebuilders to delay the payment of certain impact fees until a certificate of occupancy is issued for their project, providing financial flexibility for the project, while ensuring that local services remain funded.

This bill directs the California Coastal Commission to work in coordination with the California Department of Housing and Community Development to develop and provide guidance for local governments to simplify the permitting process for accessory dwelling units and junior accessory dwelling units within the coastal zone.

Passed in 2023, SB 684 (Caballero) streamlines approvals for “starter” homes in infill developments of 10 homes or less in multi-family zones. It also amends the Subdivision Map Act to make it faster and easier to split a single parcel into multiple, smaller properties, each with their own home. SB 1123 expands SB 684 to allow the bill to be used on vacant lots in single family zones, creating more affordable homeownership opportunities in neighborhoods that have traditionally excluded lower- and middle-income families and communities of color.

The bill further clarifies existing provisions in SB 684 to ensure a variety of low-cost homeownership types and builders are eligible to use the bill, including tenancies-in-common and community land trusts.

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show your support for affordable housing

Join us in helping to ensure that families – no matter who they are, where they live or how much they earn – have access to a stable, affordable place to call home.

To advance our advocacy agenda, SGV Habitat encourages volunteers, donors, friends and supporters to contact their elected representatives and community leaders to share the positive impact that safe, sustainable and affordable homes have on millions of Americans each year and urge responsible policies that will address the serious lack of affordable housing throughout the state.

Here are some things you can do:

- Find Your Legislator
- Write to your Lawmaker
- Call your lawmaker
- Talk to your lawmaker in person
  - Schedule a meeting at a local event
  - Tell your lawmakers how you feel about the housing crisis and making affordable homeownership opportunities available to working families in your community.
  - Send follow-up communication
- Write a Letter to the Editor
- Talk to your local business community leaders and realtors