Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland) and Sen. Christopher Cabaldon (D-West Sacramento)
By Antonio Ray Harvey | California Black Media
As California continues to face a severe housing crisis, only 17 % of households can afford to purchase the median-priced single-family home, which is less than half the national average, according to a report by the California Association of Realtors.
Two state legislators, champions of affordable housing, would like that number to increase as Californians experience even higher costs of living post-pandemic.
On Feb. 18, Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland) and Sen. Christopher Cabaldon (D-West Sacramento) introduced Assembly Bill (AB) 736 and Senate Bill (SB) 417, legislation that would place a bond measure on the June 2026 California primary ballot to provide $10 billion to the state’s affordable housing programs.
“All of our communities need it. That’s the reality,” Wicks told California Black Media (CBM) about the state’s need for housing that costs no more than 30% of a household’s gross income. “You see demand in urban, suburban, and rural communities. Everywhere across the state has been hit hard by the housing crisis but a majority of these funds will go to multifamily housing.”
The two bond proposals share the same name, the Affordable Housing Bond Act of 2026. If the measures pass out of the Assembly and Senate — and voters approve the ballot proposal — they will provide 35,000 affordable homes and rental housing units while assisting 13,000 extremely low-income and homeless families, Wicks said.
In addition, bond funds would be set aside for farmworkers and tribal housing. They would also preserve and rehabilitate tens of thousands of homes and provide supportive housing for people experiencing homelessness.
“Affordable housing providers have made steady progress toward building more of the housing lower-income Californians need, but there is much more work to do,” Cabaldon stated. “The housing crisis has only been exacerbated in areas impacted by wildfires — disasters that have destroyed homes, tightened rental markets and made it even harder for every community across the state to access the workers, materials, and funding needed to build affordable housing. One of the most important ways California can respond is through a substantial new housing bond.”
Wicks said that 65% of low-income renters in the state are rent-burdened, paying more than 30% of their income toward housing, which leaves them with meager resources for necessities such as food, transportation, educational supplies, and health care.
Wicks and Calbadon’s office shared that the reason for California’s housing crisis is the critical gap between housing supply and demand. According to the Statewide Housing Plan, prices in the state continue to climb. In August 2021, the statewide median sales price of a single-family home landed a new record — $827,940.
The Statewide Housing Plan estimates that California needs approximately 300,000 new housing units annually, including 125,000 affordable units for lower-income households. From 2014 to 2023, the state has produced approximately 13,000 affordable units per year.
“We’re 3.5 million homes shy of where we need to be as a state,” Wicks shared with CBM. “And we need about 1 million affordable units.”
Lack of homeownership has hit Black Californians hard in the last several years, according to various reports. Data from 2019 revealed that 41% of Black families in California owned their homes compared to 68% of White families, according to the California Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA), a 1.5% dip from 1960.
Established in 1975, CalHFA supports the needs of low-and moderate-income renters and homebuyers by providing financing and programs that lead to equity. It is a self-sustained state agency that doesn’t rely on taxpayers’ funding but regularly manages an assortment of state and federal resources on behalf of California.
Since CalHFA’s report was released six years ago, Black homeownership in California has declined much further. According to a Jan. 8, 2025 report by the Othering and Belonging Institute(OBI), minority groups, specifically Black households, have faced lower homeownership rates compared to the state level, highlighting disturbing disparities.
The OBI at the University of California at Berkeley convenes researchers, organizers, stakeholders, communicators, and policymakers to identify and eradicate obstacles to creating an inclusive society.
All racial groups, OBI reported, saw homeownership rates increase, except for Black households, compared to 50 years ago.
Black people residing in California began to dwindle by 2020, but also the percentage of those who own a house dropped from 40% to 35%, OBI presented. The Black community consisted of 5.7% (2,237,044) of California’s total population in 2020, according to the 2020 U.S. Census.
“The drop in the homeownership rate of Black households results in what housing advocates and economists call a ‘racial homeownership gap’ between the share of White households that own homes and the share of Black households that own homes,” OBI’s report stated.
Wicks said the state has previously used similar voter-approved bonds to fund the construction and rehabilitation of affordable housing to help increase homeownership across the state.
California’s last housing bond, the Veterans and Affordable Housing Bond Act of 2018 authorized $3 billion for various affordable housing programs. These funds were fully allocated by the end of 2024.
AB 736 and SB 417 have the support of members throughout the Legislature, Wicks said. As of Feb. 28, 32 lawmakers signed on as co-authors, which Wicks says, “Is a really good start.”
The two bills should move through the Assembly and Senate concurrently this year to ensure members of both houses have an opportunity to shape final bond proposals. Wicks is adamant that the state leaders will understand “loud and clear” the value and seriousness of the bills.
“We have an audience of three — the speaker (Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas), pro temp (Senate president pro tem Mike McGuire), and Gov. Gavin Newsom,” Wicks said. “I am confident we can get the votes on the bills but how these bonds come together is we build with the grassroots movement within the legislature to pressure our leadership. And that’s exactly what we’re doing.”
