Tenants could work with landlords to take in homeless people under new California law
California tenants will have a new avenue to take in people at risk of homelessness with permission from their landlord under a new law taking effect next year.
The measure is one of 13 bills Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Thursday aimed at alleviating the state’s homelessness crisis.
The new law, AB 1188, will allow a tenant and landlord to override an existing lease agreement and let a person in danger of being homeless move into their unit. The landlord could increase rent as part of the agreement. The arrangement would be governed largely by existing tenant-landlord law, but with exceptions to let the tenant evict the at-risk person on short notice. Tenants will be able to use the new process to take in vulnerable people from 2020 through 2024.
California is home to roughly a quarter of the country’s homeless population, a distinction that has drawn criticism from President Donald Trump in recent weeks. Newsom has made housing homeless people a key campaign promise.
“Homelessness is a national emergency that demands more than just words, it demands action,” Newsom said in a statement. “I am pleased to sign these bills that give local governments even more tools to confront this crisis,” added Governor Newsom.
The bills he signed include several that will lift some environmental regulations for shelter construction. Another will let the state’s transportation department, Caltrans, rent its property to local governments for emergency shelters for $1 per month plus administrative fees.
That new law will mean the city of Sacramento only needs to pay Caltrans $24 for the two years it plans to operate a 100-bed shelter at a vacant Caltrans-owned lot under the W/X freeway. The shelter at the corner of X Street and Alhambra Boulevard is set to open this winter with medical, mental health and rehousing services.
Newsom also signed a bill that will provide an California Environmental Quality Act exemption through January 2025 for projects that convert hotels into supportive housing to speed up those projects. Sacramento City Councilman Jeff Harris has said he is working on a proposal for a hotel conversion in the city, but has not yet announced the location. The council could discuss that idea during its Oct. 22 meeting.
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg praised Newsom’s decision to ease environmental regulations for shelter projects.
“The fact that mentally ill people are living homeless in huge numbers all across California constitutes a statewide emergency,” Steinberg said in a statement. “Our communities must have the tools they need to act quickly to house and treat these people who are sick, vulnerable and hurting.”
Earlier this year, Newsom signed a $215 billion budget that included about $1 billion in new funding aimed at helping homeless people. Nearly two thirds of that money goes to local governments for shelters and programs aimed at getting people off the streets. The remainder of that money will fund expanded mental health services, housing for college students, and other programs aimed at reducing the state’s homeless population.
This story was originally published September 27, 2019 at 5:00 AM.
