Housing Policy Tracker
A free, independent tracker of the housing policy actually moving in Sacramento, LA County, City Hall, and Washington, and what you can do about each one. Nobody pays for placement here. Every card shows the date it was last checked and links to the source so you can go read it yourself. See something wrong or missing? Tell me here.
Status
Jurisdiction
What the statuses mean
- On the Ballot
- You vote on it November 3.
- Governor’s Desk
- Passed the Legislature. The Governor signs or vetoes by September 30.
- Pending Vote
- Still needed a vote as of the August 31 deadline. Check the source link for the final result.
- Active
- A live program, rulemaking, or budget fight. Usually where public comment still matters.
- Enacted
- Already law or already funded. Listed because it affects you now.
- Dead This Session
- Did not pass by August 31. Could come back when bill introduction reopens in December.
On your November 3 ballot
Prop 1 – Veterans and Affordable Housing Bond Act of 2026
Vote
Nov 3, 2026
9 weeks out
Bond
State
On Ballot
SB 417 (Cabaldon)
Current Stage
SB 417 passed the Legislature and was signed June 27, 2026. Certified for the November 3 ballot and assigned Proposition 1.
$11.25 billion in general obligation bonds. Multifamily Housing Program $5.1B, CalVet home loans $1.25B, supportive housing rehab $1.15B, Portfolio Reinvestment Program $750M, CalHome $600M, My Home downpayment assistance $500M, Infill Infrastructure $500M, Joe Serna Jr. Farmworker Housing $450M, student housing $350M, Tribal Housing $200M, Affordable Housing Innovation Fund $200M, and Community Anti-Displacement and Preservation $200M. Backers project roughly 40,000 new affordable homes and 5,500 preserved ones. Two things on this page depend on it passing: HCD’s Portfolio Reinvestment Program Round 3 and the CAPP program in SB 1091.
What it means for you: This is the big one. A yes vote is the single largest pot of new affordable housing money on any ballot this year. A no vote means the preservation programs below stay funded at current levels, which are falling.
Prop 43 – Two-Thirds Vote for Citizen-Proposed Local Special Taxes
Vote
Nov 3, 2026
9 weeks out
Ballot Measure
State
On Ballot
Threat to Future ULA-Style Measures
Current Stage
ACA 22, placed on the ballot by the Legislature as part of a deal that got the Howard Jarvis initiative pulled.
The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association had qualified the Local Taxpayer Protection Act for this ballot. It would have capped local transfer taxes at a small fraction of one percent, far below Measure ULA’s top rate, and applied retroactively, which would have killed ULA outright. Jarvis withdrew it after a last-minute agreement with the Governor and legislative leaders. Prop 43 is what replaced it. It raises the approval threshold for citizen-initiated local special taxes from a simple majority to two-thirds, starting January 1, 2027, and it is prospective only. Measure ULA and every other local tax already approved are untouched.
What it means for you: ULA survived this round. The catch is that the next ULA, in any California city, would need two out of three voters instead of one out of two. ULA itself passed with 57.8 percent in 2022. It would not clear the new bar.
Prop 37 – Middle-Class Homeownership and Family Home Construction Act
Vote
Nov 3, 2026
9 weeks out
Ballot Measure
State
On Ballot
Citizen Initiative
Current Stage
Qualified by signature, certified for the November 3 ballot.
Authorizes up to $25 billion in CalHFA revenue bonds for a second-mortgage program covering up to 17 percent of the purchase price, restricted to newly built homes or converted nonresidential buildings where the buyer is the first purchaser. Buyers repay it as a fixed-rate second mortgage with monthly payments. Sponsored by former legislative leader Robert Hertzberg, backed by the California Association of Realtors and the Northern California Carpenters Regional Council. The California Budget and Policy Center flags four problems: the monthly repayment eats much of the benefit, the required 3 percent buyer contribution is still out of reach for most, new-construction-only pushes demand toward the exurbs, and the eligible income band skews white.
What it means for you: This is a homeownership measure, not a renter measure. It builds no affordable housing and preserves none. If you rent, Prop 1 and Prop 43 are the two on this ballot that touch your rent.
On the Governor’s desk, sign or veto by September 30
SB 1091 (Caballero) – Community Anti-Displacement and Preservation Program
Sign or Veto
Sep 30, 2026
action window open
Legislation
State
Enrolled
CLTs Explicitly Eligible
Current Stage
Assembly amendments concurred in 36 to 0 on August 27, 2026. Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. Now with the Governor.
Creates the Community Anti-Displacement and Preservation Program to acquire and rehabilitate unrestricted housing and lock long-term affordability restrictions onto it. HCD selects a private program manager and distributes funds to eligible borrowers and regional housing entities, with protections for sitting residents. Eligible borrowers explicitly include community land trusts and nonprofits, so the money can reach the small mission-driven owners who actually buy this kind of building. It creates the fund but not the money: Prop 1 carries $200 million for CAPP. Co-sponsored by the California Community Land Trust Network, Enterprise, Housing California, and Public Advocates through the Stable Homes Coalition.
What it means for you: This is the state finally building a tool to buy the building you already live in and keep the rent down, instead of only funding new construction. It needs a signature this month and money in November.
SB 1170 (Durazo) – Nonprofit Housing Insurance Joint Powers Authority
Sign or Veto
Sep 30, 2026
action window open
Legislation
State
Enrolled
Passed Both Houses
Current Stage
Passed the Senate on consent April 30, 2026. Passed the Assembly August 25, 2026. Enrolled the same day.
Expands the Joint Exercise of Powers Act so nonprofit housing developers can join a JPA with public agencies to pool risk and self-insure. Participating public agencies are shielded from the underlying debts and liabilities. Revenue the pool generates has to go back into technical support, continuing education, safety engineering, and operational advisory help for members. Direct response to the insurance crisis, which is now one of the largest line items driving affordable housing operating costs statewide.
What it means for you: Insurance is a quiet reason rents rise and nonprofit buildings fail. Letting mission-driven owners insure each other instead of buying from a market that is fleeing California takes pressure off operating budgets.
AB 1165 (Gipson, Arreguin) – California Housing Justice Act
Sign or Veto
Sep 30, 2026
action window open
Legislation
State
Enrolled
ACCE and Housing Now! sponsored
Current Stage
Passed the Assembly 54 to 12 on January 29, 2026. Passed the Senate August 26, 2026. Assembly concurred in Senate amendments 59 to 13 on August 27, 2026. Enrolled and now with the Governor.
Requires HCD to build a statewide strategic plan on housing affordability and homelessness, informed by research and by people with lived experience of homelessness, with clear metrics and a public progress dashboard. It does not mandate spending levels. The point is accountability: California currently puts under half a percent of its budget into affordable housing and homelessness programs and has no single plan tying that spending to outcomes. Sponsored by ACLU California Action, ACCE, Bring California Home, Corporation for Supportive Housing, Housing Now!, the National Alliance to End Homelessness, and PolicyLink. This is the same coalition behind the Affordable California campaign.
What it means for you: A public dashboard is how you find out whether the money already being spent is doing anything. Right now nobody can answer that, including the people spending it.
Awaiting a final procedural vote
AB 2020 (Gabriel) – Portfolio Reserve Transfers
Deadline
Aug 31, 2026
last day to pass
Legislation
State
Pending Vote
Current Stage
Passed the Assembly 78 to 0 on May 27, 2026. Out of Senate Appropriations 7 to 0 on August 13. Passed the Senate 39 to 0 on August 30, 2026 and went back to the Assembly. Needs Assembly concurrence in the Senate amendments by the August 31 deadline.
Lets affordable housing developers move project reserves across their own portfolio to stabilize a financially distressed property instead of watching it fail while another building sits on cash it cannot legally move. Cross-collateralization at the state level. The open question worth watching in the final language is how “portfolio” is defined and whether community land trusts qualify as eligible sponsors.
What it means for you: A nonprofit landlord going broke on one building is how affordable units get sold to a market buyer. This lets them shore it up with their own money.
Verified Aug 31, 2026
AB 2020 action history
LA County
Community Opportunity to Purchase Act (COPA)
Next Deliverable
Nov 4, 2026
120-day report
Ordinance
LA County
Approved 5-0
Solis and Mitchell
Current Stage
Motion approved 5 to 0 on July 7, 2026. Three clocks are running: DCBA reassessment of the 2023 TOPA report due in 120 days (about November 4, 2026), a recommended COPA ordinance due in 180 days (about January 3, 2027), and the CEO’s funding-source identification also due in 180 days.
Gives mission-driven qualified purchasers, which the motion names as nonprofit affordable housing organizations, community land trusts, and nonprofit developers, a right of first offer on rental properties with five or more units and on mobile home parks in unincorporated LA County before they hit the open market. Single-family rentals are out of the first phase. A tenant right to purchase, TOPA, is deferred to a possible later phase, which is what the 120-day reassessment is really about. The California Apartment Association and landlord groups opposed it going in and will be at the drafting table.
What it means for you: When your landlord sells, a land trust gets a shot at buying the building before a flipper does. That is the difference between a rent increase and a permanently affordable home.
Measure A – FY2026-27 Spending Plan
Approved
Feb 3, 2026
in effect
Ballot Measure
LA County
Enacted
Cuts in Play
Current Stage
FY2026-27 spending plan approved by the Board of Supervisors February 3, 2026 and administered by the new Department of Homeless Services and Housing.
Measure A replaced Measure H as the County’s half-cent homelessness and affordable housing sales tax, with a dedicated affordable housing share routed through LACAHSA. The County’s own framing of this year’s plan is that it is making hard choices under “funding reductions, shifts, and deficit scenarios across local, state and federal levels.” Read alongside the HUD FY2027 proposal on this page: the federal cuts are a direct input into what Measure A has to backfill.
What it means for you: You are paying this sales tax. The spending plan is public and the Board votes on it every year. It is one of the very few housing budgets in LA a regular person can show up and comment on.
LACDA Portfolio Preservation Program
Launch
FY2027
begins Jul 2026
Budget Item
LA County
Watching
Current Stage
Announced at the June 9, 2026 Housing Symposium. Program design still being worked out. No NOFA published as of August 31, 2026.
LACDA plans to proactively identify at-risk properties in its own loan portfolio rather than waiting for owners to ask for help. The scale is the story: roughly half of LACDA’s loan portfolio had negative net operating income in 2024. This is the county-level analog to HCD’s Portfolio Reinvestment Program, and unlike PRP it does not depend on Prop 1 passing.
What it means for you: Half the affordable buildings the County has already lent money to are losing money every month. This is the plan to keep them from being sold off.
Verified Aug 31, 2026
LACDA public notices
City of Los Angeles
LA Rent Stabilization Ordinance – New Rent Increase Formula
Effective
Feb 2, 2026
in effect
Ordinance
City of LA
Enacted
Tenant Win
Current Stage
Council amended the RSO increase formula on a narrow vote, effective February 2, 2026. The current allowable increase is 3 percent and holds through June 30, 2027.
The formula moved to 90 percent of average CPI instead of 100 percent, with a floor of 1 percent and a ceiling of 4 percent. The old range was 3 to 8 percent. Two add-ons are gone: the utility surcharge for master-metered buildings and the 10 percent bump landlords could take for an additional occupant. Won by the Keep LA Housed coalition. Two other numbers get confused with this one constantly: the state Tenant Protection Act cap on pre-2005 units is 5 percent plus CPI, and unincorporated LA County under its own ordinance was 1.93 percent for July 2025 to June 2026. Three different caps, three different sets of buildings.
What it means for you: If you are in an RSO unit, the most your rent can go up in a year is 3 percent right now, and your landlord can no longer tack on a utility percentage or charge you extra for a roommate or a kid. Check whether your building is RSO before you accept any increase.
Homes for LA NOFA – ULA Preservation Funding
Round 2
Late Summer
2026, tentative
Budget Item
City of LA
Round 2 Imminent
Current Stage
Round 1 closed. Awards approved by Council and the Mayor May 1, 2026, award letters out May 4. LAHD says Round 2 is tentatively planned for late summer 2026, contingent on available funding. Nothing published as of August 31.
Funded by Measure ULA transfer tax revenue and run by LAHD. Round 1 ran seven programs: three new construction, three preservation, and one operating assistance. A community land trust requirement is written into the regulatory language for ULA-funded preservation programs, which is how ULA money gets steered toward permanently community-owned housing rather than a subsidy that expires. That requirement lives in regulation, not in the ballot measure, so it can be changed without a public vote.
What it means for you: This is where ULA money actually turns into preserved apartments. Round 1 put over $117 million out the door. Round 2 is the next chance.
Measure ULA (United to House LA)
Thresholds
Jul 1, 2026
indexed up
Ballot Measure
City of LA
Enacted
Survived Prop 43 Deal
Current Stage
Passed by LA voters in 2022, in effect since April 2023. Survived its legal challenge. Thresholds indexed upward effective July 1, 2026 to 4 percent above $5.4 million and 5.5 percent above $10.9 million. Over $1 billion collected since 2023.
Transfer tax on high-value property sales funding affordable housing and tenant services citywide. Two threats resolved in ULA’s favor this year: a Council push to rewrite it via ballot measure was blocked in February 2026, and the Howard Jarvis initiative that would have retroactively voided it was withdrawn in the Prop 43 deal. What remains is the ongoing exemption pressure at Council and the fact that the CLT requirement in ULA-funded preservation programs sits in regulatory language, not in the measure itself.
What it means for you: ULA is the reason LA has its own affordable housing money instead of waiting on Sacramento. It has survived a lawsuit, a Council rewrite attempt, and a statewide repeal initiative in under four years. It is still a target.
State programs and agency actions
CHHA Reorg and the Housing Development and Finance Committee (HDFC)
Comment Open
Now
NOFA Jan 2027
Regulation
State
Comment Period Open
Current Stage
Reorg effective July 1, 2026. Jonathan Klein named HDFC’s first Executive Director the same day. Public comment is currently open on the 100-Day Plan and on the Single Application and Aligned Monitoring proposal. Round 1 NOFA targeted for January 2027.
The Governor’s 2025 reorganization created the California Housing and Homelessness Agency, which now holds HCD, CalHFA, and the new HDFC. HDFC consolidates AHSC, MFSN, MIP, and state-administered 4 percent credits into a single application, and reserves at least half of the tax-exempt bond housing allocation for its own projects. AHSC splits 70 percent affordable housing and 30 percent sustainable communities under the new structure. The single-application design is the thing to comment on. Whether a small nonprofit or community land trust can realistically compete in a consolidated process against large developers gets decided in these guidelines, not later.
What it means for you: California just merged most of its affordable housing money into one application. Who can realistically fill it out determines what gets built and by whom.
HHAP Round 7 (Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention)
NOFA Released
Aug 20, 2026
$829.4M
Budget Item
State
NOFA Open
Current Stage
NOFA released August 20, 2026. $829.4 million appropriated in the 2026-27 Budget Act.
New in Round 7: large-city applicants and the counties containing them have to obtain a Prohousing Designation within 12 months of the funding allocation and put up a local funding match. HCD is also letting recipients take Round 7 money as additional Round 6 disbursements under approved Regionally Coordinated Homelessness Action Plans rather than filing a new application. Eligibility also depends on meeting prior-round obligations and complying with HCD guidance on encampments and housing elements, which is where the real pressure on local policy sits.
What it means for you: The state is now tying homelessness money to whether your city has made itself housing-friendly and whether it follows state rules on encampment sweeps. That is a policy lever hiding inside a grant program.
Verified Aug 31, 2026
CSAC on the Round 7 NOFA
HCD Portfolio Reinvestment Program (PRP)
Round 3
Unfunded
pending Prop 1
Regulation
State
Closed, No Round 3
Current Stage
Application window closed, no longer accepting applications. No Round 3 NOFA announced as of August 31, 2026. Prop 1 carries $750 million for PRP.
Rehab loans and Capitalized Operating Subsidy Reserve loans for at-risk affordable housing. Rounds 1 and 2 awarded $427.5 million, including $70 million for 340 permanent supportive housing units in LA County. The COSR structure is the interesting piece: the loan is forgiven if the project meets both the rehabilitation and the COSR requirements. Round 3 is not scheduled and there is no money behind it right now. That changes on November 3 if Prop 1 passes.
What it means for you: The state’s main tool for fixing failing affordable buildings is currently out of money. Prop 1 refills it.
Cap-and-Invest and AHSC Affordable Housing Funding
Budget Signed
Jun 29, 2026
AHSC preserved
Budget Item
State
AHSC Preserved
Current Stage
2026-27 budget signed June 29, 2026. Cap-and-trade reauthorized through 2045 and renamed Cap-and-Invest. Dedicated affordable housing funding preserved.
The $1.78 billion cut the coalition warned about did not land. AHSC is being restructured under HDFC with up to roughly $560 million a year from Cap-and-Invest proceeds, split about 70 percent affordable housing and 30 percent sustainable communities. The live question now is the CARB Cap-and-Invest rulemaking, which determines how much revenue actually flows into that split.
What it means for you: California funds affordable housing near transit with money from polluters. That funding stream survived this year’s budget and is now locked in through 2045.
Verified Aug 31, 2026
SGC AHSC
AB 670 (Quirk-Silva) – RHNA Credit for Acquisition-Rehab
First Use
Apr 1, 2027
APR cycle
Legislation
State
Law
Current Stage
Signed October 13, 2025. In effect January 1, 2026. First reportable APR cycle is April 1, 2027.
Lets jurisdictions count acquisition-rehab conversions to affordable housing with 55-year covenants toward up to 25 percent of their lower-income RHNA allocation. Buying and preserving an existing building now counts against the housing targets the state holds cities and counties to. That is a real lever on what City Hall chooses to fund.
What it means for you: Cities used to get credit toward state housing goals only for new construction. Now keeping an existing building affordable counts too, which changes what City Hall has an incentive to fund.
Verified Aug 31, 2026
AB 670 text
AB 726 (Avila Farias) – RHNA Credit for Substantial Rehab
First Use
Apr 1, 2027
APR cycle
Legislation
State
Law
Current Stage
Signed October 13, 2025. In effect January 1, 2026. Same April 1, 2027 first reporting window as AB 670.
Companion to AB 670. Lets jurisdictions count substantial rehab of already deed-restricted affordable housing toward RHNA, where the building is at least 15 years old and receives at least $60,000 per unit in local funding. The $60,000 threshold is the catch. A rehab scoped just under it earns no credit, and therefore no local political interest in funding it.
What it means for you: Fixing up an old affordable building now counts toward the city’s state housing quota, as long as the city puts real money into it.
Verified Aug 31, 2026
AB 726 text
Federal
HUD FY2027 Budget Proposal
Appropriations
Fall 2026
House and Senate
Budget Item
Federal
Major Cuts Proposed
Current Stage
President’s budget released as the starting point for FY2027 appropriations. House and Senate write their own bills this fall.
Cuts HUD by $10.7 billion, 12.7 percent below FY2026. Zeroes out CDBG, HOME Investment Partnerships, Choice Neighborhoods, HOPWA, and Homeless Assistance Grants, replacing the last with $4.024 billion in Emergency Solutions Grants only. Family Self-Sufficiency, Jobs Plus, and ROSS get nothing. Housing Choice Voucher payments get $35.565 billion, a $608 million increase that NAHRO estimates still will not cover existing HAP contracts, and new voucher issuance is barred except for HUD-VASH, Family Unification, Foster Youth to Independence, and RAD. HOME and CDBG are the two programs LA City and LA County rely on most for local housing and community development. LACDA runs on CDBG.
What it means for you: If this holds, the federal money behind your city’s housing and neighborhood programs goes to zero, and Section 8 stops taking anyone new. This is the fight that decides whether state and local money is a supplement or the only thing left.
LIHTC 25 Percent Bond Test
Effective
Jan 1, 2026
in effect
Regulation
Federal
In Effect
Current Stage
Enacted in the July 2025 federal tax law, effective for projects beginning January 1, 2026. California is among the states allowing discretionary allocations above the minimum.
Four percent LIHTC deals now need only 25 percent of aggregate basis financed with tax-exempt private activity bonds, down from 50 percent. That frees up bond volume cap in oversubscribed states, and about half of all states were oversubscribed. The practical catch: most projects can only support permanent debt at 35 to 45 percent of basis, and states allocate a cushion of 27.5 to 30 percent, so a gap remains that has to be filled with more expensive taxable capital. Several states are using bond recycling to close it. In California, CTCAC decides how much of that flexibility actually gets used.
What it means for you: A technical change in how affordable housing gets financed, and one of the few pieces of federal housing policy this year that made building easier rather than harder.
Dead this session, back in December if reintroduced
AB 2626 (Gabriel) – HCD Monitoring Fee Waiver
Held
Aug 13, 2026
suspense file
Legislation
State
Dead
Current Stage
Placed on the Senate Appropriations suspense file August 3, 2026. Held under submission August 13, 2026. Did not move again before the August 31 deadline.
Would have let HCD waive annual monitoring fee payments for affordable housing developments in financial distress. Died on the suspense file, which is a cost decision rather than a policy one, so a reintroduction in the 2027-28 session with a smaller fiscal note is realistic.
What it means for you: A small fix for struggling affordable buildings that got killed on cost, not on merit. Worth watching for whether it comes back in December.
Dead for 2026
Verified Aug 31, 2026
AB 2626 action history
AB 736 (Wicks) – Assembly Housing Bond Companion
Postponed
Jun 25, 2026
superseded
Legislation
State
Superseded by SB 417
Current Stage
Passed the Assembly 65 to 11. Hearing postponed by the Senate Housing Committee June 25, 2026 and never rescheduled.
The Assembly half of the Wicks and Cabaldon $10 billion housing bond package. When the two houses settled on a single vehicle, SB 417 carried the final $11.25 billion bond and AB 736 was left behind. Keeping it on the board as a separate active bill was double-counting the bond, which is why it is here rather than in the active list. The policy it stood for is on your ballot as Prop 1.
What it means for you: Nothing was lost here. This bill and Prop 1 were always the same idea. Vote on Prop 1.
Superseded, see Prop 1
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