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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP/CBS13) — California Attorney General Rob Bonta said Wednesday helium is putting a caller accent connected trying to alleviate the state’s seemingly intractable affordable lodging problem, including by creating a “strike force” to absorption connected tenant protections, connected section governments that don’t comply with authorities lodging laws, and related issues.
The 12-member onslaught unit volition gully connected attorneys from 4 existing sections wrong the authorities Department of Justice, said Bonta, a Democrat who took bureau successful April and indispensable tally for reelection adjacent year.
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“This is, I believe, thing unsocial successful the past of the California Department of Justice to person the precedence and accent and absorption connected housing, instrumentality enforcement, that we have” with the caller approach, Bonta said.
NEW: Today, I announced a Housing Strike Force wrong the California DOJ. We are moving to tackle the lodging situation head-on. #HousingIsAHumanRight
Check retired my office's caller efforts and resources for tenants and homeowners here ⬇https://t.co/GfwH0t8H4J pic.twitter.com/KdAmLZtiQA
— Rob Bonta (@AGRobBonta) November 3, 2021
He noted that a caller law clarifies and increases his authorization to enforce authorities lodging and zoning laws alongside the authorities Department of Housing and Community Development. That includes added authorization to record lawsuits if section governments don’t boost their lodging supply, including just and affordable lodging and rental properties, oregon conscionable different requirements.
“We are surely looking astatine section jurisdictions’ responsibilities to physique much housing,” Bonta said, adding aboriginal that “there volition beryllium consequences, determination volition beryllium accountability” if communities willingly garbage to comply.
The section sets the fig of caller lodging units that a portion is projected to request to supply homes for each income levels, and besides precocious created a caller Housing Accountability Unit to compel compliance.
“What we’ve tried to bash is enactment much teeth into these important laws that person been astir sometimes for arsenic agelong arsenic 40 years, and present empowering the lawyer wide to instrumentality enactment to enforce them,” said Sen. Scott Wiener, a Democrat from San Francisco and a proponent of expanded housing.
League of California Cities enforcement manager and CEO Carolyn Coleman said cities person been making important advancement and by 2023 volition person planned for much than 2 cardinal units of further lodging statewide.
Cities “for years person endured whiplash from the state’s scattershot attack to passing lodging laws that are often successful nonstop struggle with each other,” she said. Officials alternatively should intermission “these unproven top-down authorities mandates and enforcement policies” successful favour of moving cooperatively with section governments to lick a decades-in-the-making lodging crisis.
In 1 example, the section past week said it is investigating the San Francisco Board of Supervisors’ caller rejection of a projected 495-unit flat building, though manager Gustavo Velasquez said Wednesday that truthful acold his section is conscionable gathering facts and seeing if the metropolis violated authorities law.
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Bonta said his bureau is acting arsenic the department’s ineligible counsel successful that inquiry.
California besides conscionable enacted two high-profile lodging laws, including 1 requiring cities to o.k. up to 4 lodging units connected what was a single-family lot.
The lawyer general’s lawyers volition besides absorption connected tenant rights, owe and different user extortion laws, Bonta said.
He announced a new “housing portal” on the department’s website with resources and accusation for homeowners and renters. Those with lodging complaints oregon tips tin nonstop them to housing@doj.ca.gov.
Bonta said it’s portion of his effort to “advance Californians’ cardinal close to housing,” thing helium has agelong held should beryllium a legally enforceable right.
His determination is the latest measurement successful authorities officials’ efforts to code lodging affordability and the astir populous state’s monolithic stateless population.
An estimated 150,000 of the state’s residents are sleeping successful shelters, successful their cars, oregon connected the street, helium said, portion different 700,000 Californians are astatine hazard of eviction.
The median terms of a single-family location present tops $800,000, which helium said has led to the lowest homeownership rates since the 1940s.
Bonta said 1 large accent volition beryllium connected lodging equity, noting that astir fractional of the state’s Black households walk much than 30% of their income connected housing, successful opposition to astir a 3rd of achromatic households.
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