California Social Housing Study (SB 555)

To meet California’s housing needs and meaningfully address the affordability and homelessness crises, new innovative strategies are needed to create permanently affordable units at an unprecedented scale. To identify pathways to help achieve these goals, the Legislature passed Senate Bill 555 (SB 555), the Stable Affordable Housing Act of 2023 (Health and Safety Code § 50610-50613). SB 555 requires HCD to complete the California Social Housing Study, including a comprehensive analysis of the opportunities, resources, obstacles, and recommendations for the creation of social housing at scale to help meet the needs of lower- and moderate-income residents. HCD has commissioned the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at UC Berkeley to carry out the study as required by SB 555.

Methodology

The Study must include broad public participation by residents unable to afford market rents, as well as input gained from interviews and/or focus groups from public agencies, mission-driven nonprofits and housing providers, and other groups.

The study will provide clear recommendations, informed by targeted input from these groups, that:

• Confirm the definition of Social Housing under HSC 50612
• Analyze resources, opportunities, and constraints in the current financing and policy landscape
• Advance the development of social housing through recommendations for actions that both require and do not require legislative action