Senate Housing Committee

17 March 2026

No chapters available yet

Senate Housing Committee Mon, 16 Mar 2026 California State Senate

00:14 - 01:01

Speaker 1

Good afternoon. I'd like to call to order this meeting of the senate standing committee on housing for Tuesday, 03/17/2026. I'm senator Jesse Edighin, the chair of the committee. We do not yet have a quorum, but we'll begin with bill presentations, and we'll go now to file item four, SB ten ninety one by Senator Caballero. The sergeants can please, let members know, that their attendance is requested.

Thank you. And good afternoon, Senator. Good afternoon,

01:01 - 02:48

Speaker 2

Chair. Thank you for the opportunity to present SB ten ninety one, an important bill to stabilize low income families in the communities and prevent tenant displacement through the acquisition and preservation of existing rental housing. Specifically, this bill creates a Community Anti Displacement and Preservation Program, or CAP, within Department of Housing and Community Development, HCD. The program will provide financial resources and technical capacity building to community organizations, nonprofit affordable housing developer, and local jurisdictions that wish to acquire unsubsidized housing developments that currently exist and are affordable from the speculative market and preserve them as affordable rental housing or homeownership opportunities. As California's affordable housing crisis worsens, unsubsidized affordable housing is disappearing and fewer low income families can find stable housing.

As rent outpaces demand, housing becomes less accessible and more unaffordable, displacing people from their homes and the communities where they live. Acquisition and preservation of unsubsidized affordable housing is a proven, successful local model that prevents displacement and grows the supply of affordable housing. SB ten ninety one is one important step. It's not going to solve the housing problem. But it's one important step to prevent displacement, homelessness, and to stabilize families in their communities in homes that they can afford.

With me today to testify is Justine Marcus, state and local policy director for Enterprise Community Partners, and Carla Guerra, policy and advocacy senior management for the Unity Council.

02:49 - 02:54

Speaker 1

JUSTINE Thank you very much. Good afternoon. It's good to see some familiar faces.

02:55 - 05:20

Speaker 3

Good afternoon. Thank you, chair and committee members, for the opportunity to speak today. I'm Justine Marcus. I'm the state and local policy director with Enterprise Community Partners and a proud co sponsor of SB ten ninety one. As the senator mentioned, there is no silver bullet to addressing our housing and homelessness crisis.

We need a comprehensive approach and preservation, specifically this type of acquisition preservation, is a critical tool in the state's housing toolbox. In communities across the state, nonprofit organizations, community land trusts, cities, housing authorities have been doing this innovative work of acquisition preservation for over a decade. And as the senator described, these organizations are purchasing the rental housing from the private market where low income households live today and preserving it as deed restricted for the long term. CAP was envisioned and designed based on the lessons learned and best practices from these local efforts. The program was also modeled off of the success of the state's Golden State Acquisition Fund, which for over a decade has provided acquisition capital to purchase land to build new affordable housing.

CAP is designed in that image as a partnership between the state and nonprofit lenders who can distribute program funds quickly and effectively support organizations to purchase buildings off the private market at the speed of the market. These local organizations manage these buildings as deed restricted affordable, either as rental or homeownership opportunities. We like to say that acquisition preservation is a two birds, one seed approach. It stabilizes households where they live now, preventing displacement and homelessness, but it also invests in our stock of permanently affordable housing for the long run. It is quick, often closing in months rather than years, and has cost efficiencies relative to new construction.

We hear from our local partners regularly about the impact of their preservation efforts, but we also hear about the missed opportunities because there are not resources sufficient to do this work. It is this critical gap that the CAP program can fill. SB ten ninety one and CAP were designed to fill this gap. And with a potential state affordable housing bond on the ballot this November to provide new funding to CAP, we have the opportunity to jump start this new program. We respectfully urge your I vote.

Ask anything about this video — I analyse its transcript to answer.