The California Association of Realtors (CAR) issued the following statement after Gov. Gavin Newsom’s State of the State address:
“The California Association of Realtors stands with Gov. Gavin Newsom and agrees that after decades of neglect we need more housing. As the governor said during his State of the State: ‘Doing nothing is no longer an option…we must cut red tape to get to yes on innovative approaches.’ We applaud the governor’s dedication to addressing California’s housing shortage and calling on both state and local governments to get serious about increasing the state’s housing supply. Our state’s community of more than 200,000 REALTORS join with the governor in calling for a bold housing supply agenda in 2020,” CAR President Jeanne Radsick said.
“Today the governor put the state legislature on notice to respond with urgency. He urged our state and local leaders to eliminate roadblocks to housing and called for the legislature to create a comprehensive response to our collective failure to build housing.
“Just last month, we saw the state’s highest profile housing production bill, Senate Bill 50, fail to move forward. But Gov. Newsom’s leadership in calling for the state to tackle housing affordability with real actions and consequences and to eliminate roadblocks to building housing near transit, while also increasing the usability of density bonus laws are reasons to be hopeful that 2020 will finally be the year of meaningful progress on housing supply.
“In his State of the State address, the governor called on our elected leaders to pass policies that will massively increase housing production in California at all levels of affordability. As REALTORS, we couldn’t agree more! We’re proud to sponsor supply solutions like Asm. David Chiu’s (D-San Francisco) bill to reduce impact fees on certain affordable housing units, which we believe will lead to lower housing costs for all income levels long term. We’re also proud sponsors of AB 2506, a bill introduced today by Asm. Jacqui Irwin which seeks to establish a housing agency with a cabinet-level secretary to better coordinate the state’s housing production efforts. These are both promising bills we hope the legislature will pass and the governor will sign.
“We believe that housing is an integral part of achieving Gov. Newsom’s bold ‘California for All’ vision. We stand ready to work with him and the legislature to make it happen by advancing polices that make homes for rent and ownership more available and affordable for all Californians.”
