Padilla Unveils Transformative Legislation to Tackle Affordable Housing and Homelessness Crises

LOS ANGELES — U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) Feb. 21 announced the reintroduction of the Housing for All Act, a comprehensive approach to address the homelessness and affordable housing crises in California and across the nation. The legislation would invest in solutions and provide federal funding both for existing programs to keep people housed and reduce homelessness as well as for locally-developed solutions to help vulnerable populations experiencing homelessness. Representatives Ted Lieu (D-Calif.-36) and Salud Carbajal (D-Calif.-24) introduced companion legislation in the House of Representatives.

Padilla unveiled the legislation at a Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles or HACLA Project Homekey Site with Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass alongside local housing leaders. The investments in the Housing for All Act would build on the solutions that cities across California have successfully developed.

The lack of affordable housing access and the population of individuals experiencing homelessness are growing crises impacting Americans nationwide, disproportionately affecting communities of color and low-income communities. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition’s Out of Reach 2023 Report, no state or county exists where a person working 40 hours a week and earning the state or local minimum wage can afford to rent a modest two-bedroom apartment. In fact, the average minimum wage earner would need to work 104 hours per week — the equivalent of two and a half full-time jobs — to afford a two-bedroom rental home.

The Housing for All Act would take an all-hands-on-deck approach to combat these crises, including investments from the federal government in housing solutions. Specifically, the bill would:

Address the affordable housing shortage by investing in the National Housing Trust Fund, the HOME Investment Partnerships program, the Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly Program, and the Section 811 Supportive Housing for People with Disabilities;

Address the homelessness crisis by investing in housing choice vouchers, project-based rental assistance, the emergency solutions grant program (which helps with street outreach, rapid re-housing assistance, emergency shelter, and homelessness prevention), and continuums of care; and

Support innovative, locally developed approaches to these crises by investing in hotel and motel conversions to permanent supportive housing with supportive services, the eviction protection grant program to support experienced legal service providers in providing legal assistance to low-income tenants at risk of or subject to eviction, mobile crisis intervention teams to help those with medical or psychological needs get the care that they need, programs that offer a safe place to park overnight and facilitate access to rehousing services and essential services, library programs that support people experiencing homelessness, inclusive transit-oriented development and infill development, and improve coordination of culturally competent, trauma-informed behavioral health and homelessness services.

A group of California big city mayors sent a letter expressing their support for the Housing for All Act. Senators Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), and Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) are cosponsoring the bill in the Senate.

Details: A one-pager of the Housing for All Act of 2023 is available here.

A section-by-section of the bill is available here.

Full text of the bill is available here.