Assemblymember Alex Lee has released the following statement after AB 2053 stalled in the Senate Governance and Finance Committee:
“Unfortunately, AB 2053, the Social Housing Act, fell just one vote short of passing out of the Senate Governance and Finance Committee. This is the first Social Housing bill in the history of California to pass three committees and the Assembly floor.
We began this bill from scratch two years ago: an idea that California could lead the country in a revival of an active public role in the provision of housing. We have the success stories of Vienna, Singapore, Maryland, and elsewhere among our global peers to learn from. And we have brought together a diverse coalition of housing advocates, environmentalists, labor unions, homeowners, renters, and Californians who believe in the promise of social housing.
Local leaders across the state are ready for a public developer to collaborate with them to fulfill their community’s housing goals, instead of relying solely on for-profit private developers.
As we see recession on the horizon, private capital will slump, and home building and construction jobs will plummet. That’s why I remain committed to Social Housing – it is needed more than ever to fix our housing crisis and provide strong middle-class jobs.
While I’m disappointed by this outcome, I am grateful to every single person and organization that engaged on this bill, invested their time, and helped us get this far. This bill has initiated a paradigm shift that we intend to continue pushing forward.
As the Chair of the newly formed Select Committee on Social Housing, accomplishing housing for all remains a top priority for me.”