New Council-Sponsored Bill a Game Changer in Battle Against Homelessness

Providing permanent housing is the end goal for addressing our homelessness crisis and getting unhoused people off the streets and into settings where they can get the social services they desperately need. But the harsh reality is that current law and traditional building methods simply won’t allow us to build enough permanent housing at the speed and cost necessary to meet the scale of a problem that is only growing worse and producing greater human suffering.
 
That’s why the Bay Area Council is applauding game-changing legislation introduced this week (March 25) by Sen. Josh Becker that would speed the delivery of what’s being called opportunity housing, small, modular and relocatable homes that can be built fast and inexpensively on vacant public and private land. The Council is proud to be a co-sponsor of SB 634 with DignityMoves and SPUR.
 
Read press release from Sen. Becker>>
 
Read the SB 634 fact sheet>>
 
Opportunity housing creates a missing rung on the ladder between emergency congregate shelters and traditional permanent housing. Highly successful opportunity housing projects in Santa Barbara, San Francisco, and Rohnert Park—with support from Bay Area Council members Wells Fargo, First Republic Bank, Google, and Dignity Health—have proven to be very popular among tenants, with many requesting to stay longer than is currently allowed. SB 634 was featured in a San Francisco Chronicle column this week that highlighted the many benefits of opportunity housing.
 
Among the key benefits is streamlining of local approval for these housing units, which the state Department of Housing and Community Development recently determined can count towards a local jurisdiction’s state-required obligation for providing low-income housing. The units can be constructed in a fraction of the time it takes to build traditional permanent housing and the $30,000 to $80,000 cost per unit is orders of magnitude less than the statewide average of $500,000 for traditional permanent housing (and up to $750,000 in expensive places like San Francisco).
 
Opportunity homes offer a powerful solution for helping put a roof over the heads of the more than 170,000 people experiencing homelessness in California. To engage in our homeless policy work, please contact Senior Vice President Adrian Covert.