NEWS FROM THE MAYOR’S OFFICE: Newsom Signs Key Homelessness Bills
October 11, 2023
Governor Newsom Signs Second Key Housing and Homelessness Bill Sponsored By Mayor Bass and Authored By Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer
LOS ANGELES – Mayor Karen Bass today issued the following statement after Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill (AB) 1734, which was sponsored by Mayor Bass and authored by Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer. This is the second bill sponsored by Mayor Bass that has been signed by Governor Newsom. “I want to thank Governor Newsom for recognizing the importance of this bill with his signature, and for all of the work that Assemblymember Jones-Sawyer put into authoring and advocating for it. Part of what makes homelessness such an arduous crisis to confront are the barriers standing in the way at every level of government. This bill helps address those barriers,” said Mayor Karen Bass. “In order to truly confront the homelessness crisis, we must build more housing in every neighborhood across the city – and Assemblymember Jones-Sawyer’s AB 1734 will help us to do that by removing a bureaucratic barrier. By creating an exemption from the Surplus Land Act, we can more easily build on existing publicly-owned property more quickly.” As the Mayor continues to build off of her efforts to build more affordable housing in every neighborhood, already having expedited more than 7,000 units of affordable housing and issuing her Executive Directive 3 to maximize the use of City-owned land for temporary and permanent housing, Assemblymember Jones-Sawyer’s AB 1734 will create an exemption from the Surplus Land Act, allowing the City to more easily utilize existing publicly-owned property to further address the housing and homelessness crisis. As the sponsor of AB 1734, the Mayor and Assemblymember Jones-Sawyer worked together to lead the passage of the bill in order to build upon the progress made in confronting the homelessness crisis and bringing more than 17,000 Angelenos off of the streets and into housing.
October 10, 2023
Governor Newsom Signs Key Homelessness Bill Sponsored By Mayor Bass and Authored By Assemblymember Miguel Santiago
LOS ANGELES – Mayor Karen Bass today issued the following statement after Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 785 authored by Assemblymember Miguel Santiago and sponsored by Mayor Bass, as the City of Los Angeles continues to urgently confront the homelessness crisis. “Today is another positive step forward in our effort to urgently confront the homelessness crisis in Los Angeles,” said Mayor Karen Bass. “By streamlining the construction of affordable housing, low-barrier navigation centers, supportive housing and transitional housing, we will be able to bring more unhoused Angelenos inside, faster. The bill signed today further signifies our effort to lock arms across all levels of government to confront the homelessness crisis with the urgency required – and that is exactly what we will continue to do. My thanks to Governor Newsom and Assemblymember Santiago for their leadership on this critical issue.”
Assembly Bill 785 will help the City move more people indoors more quickly by extending the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) exemptions for the City and unincorporated areas of the County of Los Angeles until 2030 to streamline the construction of affordable housing, low-barrier navigation centers, supportive housing, and transitional housing for youth. As the sponsor of Assembly Bill 785, the Mayor and Assemblymember Santiago worked together to lead the passage of the bill in order to build upon progress made in confronting the homelessness crisis and bringing more than 17,000 Angelenos off of the streets and into housing.
