Oakland Asm. Buffy Wicks is back with a proposal to fund affordable housing, after it failed to make it to the November ballot last year.
East Bay Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks and state Senator Christopher Cabaldon, a Yolo County Democrat, on Tuesday brought back a proposal to place a $10 billion bond for affordable housing programs on the June 2026 ballot after failing to get a measure on the November 2024 ballot.
If approved, it would authorize general obligation bonds for low-income rental housing and supportive housing for people experiencing homelessness, among other purposes.
“These bonds are a necessary step to address the staggering need for safe, stable and affordable housing,” Wicks, an Oakland Democrat, said in a statement. “Even in a tight fiscal climate, we must act with urgency.”
With a limited capacity to authorize new bonds, the legislature last year decided to prioritize two other bond measures of $10 billion each over Wick’s housing measure — one for renovations to public schools and community colleges, and the other to fund climate resiliency projects. Both bonds passed, with 59% and 60% of the vote, respectively.
There was also a question of whether voters would have the appetite for two housing bonds in one year. In March 2024, voters narrowly passed Gov. Gavin Newsom’s $6.4 billion ballot measure to add thousands of mental health beds for homeless people and other vulnerable residents.
A $20 billion bond for affordable housing in the Bay Area had been set to appear before voters in the nine-county region in November. Unlike Wicks’ proposed statewide bond, which requires a simple majority to pass and uses state general obligation bonds, the regional bond would have required a two-thirds majority and been paid for with a property tax increase. At the eleventh hour, though, supporters yanked the measure from the ballot, citing dwindling voter appetite for new taxes.
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