(Photo courtesy of shuttershock.com)
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti was among the officials on hand in San Francisco recently as Gov. Jerry Brown signed 15 bills into law aimed at increasing the supply of affordable housing in the state.
“These new laws will help cut red tape and encourage more and affordable housing, including shelter for the growing number of homeless in California,” Brown said.
The bills include a measure to create a permanent funding source for affordable housing through a real estate fee, the placement a $4 billion housing bond on a future ballot, and other measures meant to promote development and the construction of low- and moderate-income housing.
Brown signed the bills at Hunters View, an affordable housing project located in the Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood.
California is facing a housing crunch that is driving up real estate prices, and Garcetti has been advocating for local legislation to help affordable housing, including the creation of a “linkage fee” on developers.
Garcetti said that “the California dream is in danger” because of the housing crisis, according to the Orange County Register.
“We saw it on our way here,” Garcetti said at the signing, the Register reported. “You get off the freeway and you see the (homeless) encampments. You drive by the streets and you see the trailers.”
