The National Housing Law Project, California Housing Partnership, and California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation Sponsored the Legislation by Assemblymember Ash Kalra
San Francisco, CA – Housing advocates including the National Housing Law Project, the California Housing Partnership, and the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation this week applauded Governor Newsom for signing a bill into law that will help protect affordable housing for poor and working tenants across California. Assembly Bill (AB) 2926 will help preserve affordable housing by shifting how properties are sold.
Under the new law, when an affordable housing property goes up for sale, buyers intent on maintaining the property’s affordability will be prioritized over buyers who would likely displace low-income tenants by converting their homes to market rate.
The groups said “this will help poor and working renters continue to live in housing affordable to them.”
Assemblymember Ash Kalra (D-San Jose) authored the legislation.
“I am proud to author AB 2926 to strengthen the California Preservation Notice Law,” said Assemblymember Kalra. “As California grapples with a shortage of affordable housing, AB 2926 will aid in increasing the housing supply by ensuring that affordable homes remain affordable and protecting low-income tenants from displacement. I appreciate the hard work of our sponsors and am thankful to Governor Newsom for signing this bill into law.”
“While everyone deserves a safe, stable, and healthy home, poor and working tenants and tenants of color across California are priced out of unaffordable housing, if they can find any at all. This bill will help save California’s critically scarce supply of affordable homes,” National Housing Law Project Staff Attorney Lila Gitesatani said, “We’re proud to work with Assemblymember Kalra, the California Housing Partnership, and the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation to shift the power imbalance between landlords and tenants. We look forward to supporting the bill’s implementation and preserving affordable housing across the state.”
“The State Preservation Notice Law is one of the least well known and most important tools for preventing the displacement of low income renters from their homes and the loss of affordable housing,” said California Housing Partnership CEO Matt Schwartz. “This important bill strengthens that law and, if implemented correctly, will significantly reduce displacement and the loss of affordable homes throughout California. We are grateful to Assemblymember Kalra for his leadership and the members of the Legislature who approved the bill, our partners at NHLP and CRLAF and the Governor for signing this important bill.”
“Preserving our scarce supply of deed-restricted affordable housing is an urgent priority,” said California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation Policy Advocate Anya Lawler. “We are pleased Governor Newsom has signed AB 2926, giving us a much stronger tool to help ensure that affordable units remain affordable over the long term. Low-income renters deserve the housing stability these units provide and should not be at risk of displacement and homelessness when a building’s affordability term ends. Huge thanks to Assemblymember Kalra and his staff for working tirelessly with us to get this bill across the finish line.”
According to the California Housing Partnership, between 1997 and 2022, California lost 22,078 affordable homes due to expired regulations on government-assisted multifamily housing properties and owners who opted out, sold, or allowed their properties to be converted to market rate. Another 4,749 affordable homes are at high risk of being lost in the next year and 31,309 more over the next ten years.
