The Social Housing Act: Creating Publicly-Owned, Mixed-Income Housing For All

California is falling short on its housing goals, and millions of Californians are struggling with housing insecurity. Assemblymember Alex Lee’s Social Housing Act, AB 11, would help address the state’s housing shortage and affordability crisis by creating publicly owned, mixed-income homes at scale. The bill will be heard in the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee on April 24, 2025. 

AB 11 would establish the state-level social housing developer California Housing Authority. Assemblymember Lee has also introduced a companion bill, AB 590, to place a bond measure on the November 2026 ballot and finance the development of social housing in the state. 

“Buying a home is almost — if not entirely — impossible for the everyday, working family. Tens of thousands of renters are behind on their rent, and the state’s homelessness crisis continues to grow,” said Assemblymember Lee. “We need bold solutions to make housing attainable for everyone — and social housing can make that a reality.”

In the Bay Area, the median price of a San Jose starter home cost upwards of $970,000 in 2024, which is out of reach for most people. While the typical family in San Jose makes roughly $170,000 a year, homebuyers have to earn nearly $300,000 annually to afford a starter home. When it comes to rentals, a modest 1-bedroom home costs nearly $2,000 a month. But a full-time worker earning minimum wage can only afford a monthly rent of roughly $830. Amid sky-high housing prices, the population of unhoused people continues to grow, rising by 30.5% from 2007 to 2023.

Assemblymember Alex Lee’s social housing legislation will help address the urgent need for housing. The California Housing Authority would be responsible for developing social housing that’s financially self-sustaining and affordable for all income levels. Higher income housing units can subsidize low-income units, ensuring that units remain affordable even without government subsidies. Given that social housing is under public control and oversight, they’re removed from market forces and speculation, allowing rents to be set based on the cost of providing and maintaining the housing. 

The social housing bond would provide the California Housing Authority with the sustainable financing needed to build and scale social housing statewide. The bond would provide $950 million in a revolving loan fund and give the agency access to zero-interest loans for constructing mixed-income housing. The California Housing Authority would repay the loans back into the revolving loan fund. The repaid loans can then be reinvested for future social housing developments. 

Montgomery County, Maryland has already successfully implemented the revolving loan fund model. Its $100 million revolving loan fund is financing the construction of up to 2,000 mixed-income housing in the county by 2030 without the need to rely on limited government subsidies for affordable housing. 

“We’re living in the start of a social housing renaissance in the U.S.,” said Assemblymember Lee. “People see the immense potential of social housing in resolving our housing crisis and the need for the government to take a much more active role in building and providing housing.”

In Seattle, voters recently passed a measure that is estimated to raise $50 million annually for the construction of social housing in Seattle. It follows a ballot initiative approved by voters in the 2023 election to create the Seattle Social Housing Developer. Meanwhile, the mixed-income housing model has seen success in California, including CADA in Sacramento. Social housing has also been effective in ending housing shortages across the globe, and providing affordable and desirable homes for people of different income levels in Vienna and Singapore.