Assembly approves $10 billion housing bond SB 417 to send to voters

The California State Assembly on May 7 passed SB 417, a proposed $10,000,000,000 housing bond intended to finance a broad package of affordable housing programs and sent the measure to the Senate.

Assemblymember Wicks, the bill’s floor sponsor, told colleagues the bond would fund a range of housing needs, including “over $5,000,000,000 for the multifamily housing program,” more than $1,000,000,000 for permanent supportive housing (with up to 15% permitted for interim housing), over $1,000,000,000 for homeownership programs, nearly $1,000,000,000 for preserving affordability, $450,000,000 for farmworker housing, $350,000,000 for student housing, $200,000,000 for tribal housing, $500,000,000 for infrastructure grants and $200,000,000 for regional housing trust funds.

“This is a critical investment,” Wicks said, urging colleagues to back a measure she described as the product of years of work and necessary to address homelessness and housing affordability across the state.

Assemblymember De Maio urged a no vote, calling the bond “window dressing” that would increase state debt without sufficient reforms to construction costs and argued that veterans were being used politically to sell the package: “This isn’t about helping veterans,” he said. Supporters, including Assemblymembers Bennett and Haney, said the bond would unlock shovel-ready projects and provide down-payment assistance and veterans’ mortgages.

After debate, the clerk recorded the roll: the Assembly voted 54 in favor and 7 opposed on both an urgency question and the measure. The Assembly’s passage sends SB 417 to the Senate; if both houses approve, the bond would be placed on a ballot for voters to approve or reject.

The Assembly record shows the measure passed on the floor; the next steps are Senate consideration and, if approved, placement on the statewide ballot for final voter approval.