Today Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law SB 1395, which addresses California’s housing and homeless needs by expanding access to interim housing.
Authored by Senator Josh Becker (D-Menlo Park), SB 1395 is sponsored by San José Mayor Matt Mahan and is strongly supported by San Francisco Mayor London Breed, DignityMoves, the Bay Area Council, and the San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association.
California has the fourth highest rate of homelessness and the highest rate of unsheltered homelessness in the nation. Despite concerted efforts to increase housing production, California’s budget, land, and zoning limitations inhibit sufficient permanent housing construction. As a consequence, California’s homeless population reached a record 181,399 individuals in 2023 and will continue to grow without significantly increasing housing production.
The importance of SB 1395, also known as the Interim Housing Solutions Act of 2024, is that it will encourage the development of interim housing by achieving the following:
- Clarifying that relocatable, non-congregate interim housing is eligible for streamlined zoning, thus reducing construction time and costs;
- Empowering local governments who want to build interim housing by cutting red tape and expediting approvals (CEQA expansions for Low Barrier Navigation Centers and Shelter Crisis Act projects);
- Extending sunset for existing streamlining authorities – Shelter Crisis Act and Low Barrier Navigation Centers – to provide locals more assurance that they can use existing tools to address our homelessness crisis beyond 2026; and
- Freeing up state funding for interim housing.
“SB1395 sends a very strong message from the state to local municipalities: we want you to treat unsheltered homelessness as the emergency that it is and bring people indoors at scale,” said DignityMoves Founder/CEO Elizabeth Funk. “DignityMoves is thrilled to see California embracing innovative interim housing as a solution to end the humanitarian crisis on our streets.”
“Today, California sent a message that the time has come to bring people indoors, save lives, and restore access to public spaces,” said Adrian Covert, Senior Vice President of Public Policy at the Bay Area Council. “The Interim Housing Act eliminates red tape and encourages local governments to prioritize and scale the interim housing needed to end the encampment crisis. We thank the leadership of Senator Becker for authoring, the legislature for passing, and Governor Newsom for signing SB 1395 into law.”
