HOUSING CALIFORNIA INC
1107 9th Street Suite 560, Sacramento, CA 95814 www.housingca.org

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Organizations Filed Purposes: Housing California is the leading voice in California's capitol to prevent and end homelessness and increase the variety and supply of safe, stable, accessible and permanently affordable homes in vibrant, inclusive, and prosperous communities.

Changing PolicyHousing California uses its relationships and partnerships to advance policy relating to building vibrant, inclusive, and prosperous communities by focusing on three areas: homelessness, affordable housing finance, and land use. The Organization continually seeks ways to address the structural problems driving high housing costs in California through: tax policy; local control; tenant protections and development challenges. As the foremost statewide voice for affordable housing, homelessness and related issues, Housing California builds on its expertise by connecting affordable housing to other issues such as: climate change; healthcare; and incarceration. During 2019, Housing California launched Californias Roadmap HOME 2030, an initiative to develop and implement a Marshall Plan for statewide housing and homelessness solutions. This ten-year strategic vision and blueprint will illustrate how to create a California with homes, health and prosperity for all. The Organization played a key role advocating for investments grounded in evidence-based solutions, focusing on permanent housing, local collaboration, and youth homelessness, which resulted in the California legislature passing the largest housing and homelessness General Fund allocation in the states history. A total of $2.7 billion of Californias 2019 budget has been allocated for these purposes, including: $500 million each for the Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program, Infill Infrastructure Grant Program, and the new Mixed Income Program to build more affordable and supportive homes for lower income Californians; $650 million for the new Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention Program, providing permanent homes, rental assistance, and navigation services to reduce homelessness. Housing California also successfully advocated to increase the youth set-aside, in partnership with a large coalition. Over ninety-five organizations signed Housing Californias 2019 budget request letter.Housing California provided consultation in two high-impact lawsuits: the continuing case against the City of San Jose regarding the application of the Surplus Land Act to charter cities; and a new case defending a lawsuit against California brought by the City of Huntington Beach claiming to ensure that key housing laws (SB 166 - No Net Loss laws and SN 1333 - housing element and zoning laws) apply to charter cities.The collective action of Housing California and its partners resulted in the advancement of twenty-one affordable housing and homeless-related bills, including: bills to increase affordable housing production, address homelessness, and protect low-income people, with vanguard renter protections to prevent significant spikes in rent, evictions without just cause, and discrimination against people based on how they pay rent, and increased access to surplus land for affordable housing development. To gain support for these bills, Housing California held multiple social media events, coordinated hundreds of in-district and capitol meetings with staff and legislators, and sent out more than five action alerts to its statewide network. The Organization held a successful advocacy day. More than one-hundred-thirty Residents United Network (RUN) leaders, service providers, affordable and supportive housing developers, and other allies met with sixty-eight legislators and staffers to advance three of Housing Californias sponsored and supported bills.The Organization served on the Executive Steering Committee for the Adult Re-Entry Grant Program, participated in stakeholder meetings, and submitted comment letters to ensure equitable implementation of various bills. Housing California served on the California Schools and Local Communities First Act Executive Committee as the primary affordable housing representative, and received the Housing Visionary Award from the National Housing Conference for Housing Californias work as part of the California Ballot Initiative Team that successfully passed Propositions 1 and 2 in 2018.

Shifting and Building PowerHousing California builds power through multi-sector coalitions and community organizing networks and believes that many of the greatest opportunities for funding and policy change lie at the intersection of housing and other social issues, including criminal justice, health care, climate change, transportation, education and child welfare. The Organization works diligently to bring non-housing groups into its work, educate them about the role affordable housing and homelessness plays as an aid or hindrance for the goals they are trying to achieve, and engage them as housing justice advocates. Housing California also believes that by developing resident leaders who have historically been excluded from decision-making tables, providing a mutual and respectful space for action, and uniting resident leaders with non-profit housing developers and service providers, a powerful and influential force can be created for housing justice in California. The Organization plays a key role in uniting non-traditional partners and resident leaders through coalitions and networks which learn from each other and identify actions to heal historically broken relationships and collectively advance broader social equity and environmental justice solutions, including poverty, climate change, health, displacement, homelessness and incarceration. During 2019, Housing California organized its largest and most successful Housing California conference with approximately 2,250 participants attending the sold-out event - an increase of four-hundred-fifty attendees compared with the prior year. The Organization also grew the leadership capacity of, and infrastructure for, Residents United Network (RUN) - a statewide network of affordable development resident leaders who drive change through their stories and collective action. RUN continued its expansion into the Inland Empire by building relationships with affordable housing developers, civic engagement, grassroots, academic institutions, and policy advocacy organizations, and strengthened its infrastructure in the San Joaquin Valley. Organized in-person trainings for RUN leaders were held throughout California along with multiple in-district and capitol visits to key legislators, two sets of regional meetings and a statewide summit. Housing California also: became a founding member of investAHSC, a statewide, multi-sector coalition formed to ensure that the state continues to fund the Affordable Housing Sustainable Communities program; served as the California lead agency for the Opportunity Starts at Home Initiative, a multi-sector national campaign advancing federal housing solutions to meet the rental housing needs of low-income residents; served as the Census Policy Advocacy Network's (CPAN) only housing representative - CPAN successfully influenced policymakers to provide more resources for the 2020 Census hard-to-reach outreach and engagement efforts; hosted a statewide Homeless Policy Summit with representatives from every region of the state for the purpose of identifying short- and long-term comprehensive solutions to solve homelessness. The Organizations Executive Director served on the Governors California Complete Count Committee - an advisory panel of community leaders who represent diverse populations from across the state. The group is tasked with recommending strategies to increase the count among hard-to-reach communities. The Executive Director also served as the Chair of the Housing Committee.

Shaping the NarrativeHousing and homelessness are tremendously complex topics, making it difficult to craft a comprehensive message. Housing California must first shift Californias housing and homelessness dominant narrative from a problem-focused, individual blame frame to a solutions-oriented, societal change frame in order to advocate more effectively for bold systems change solutions that create homes, health, and prosperity for all. Housing California must convey the various ways that housing and homelessness policy can deliver tangible public benefits, thereby increasing public demand for change in order to advocate more effectively for progressive affordable housing and homelessness policy changes.Activities during 2019 included:Secured thirty-nine radio, print, podcasts, and blog posts across the state, including six op-eds.The Executive Director was invited by the Sacramento Bee and newspaper affiliates across California to serve as an influencer on housing, homelessness, and transportation policy as part of the Bees 2019 California Influencer project. The Influencer Project helps shape policy conversations throughout California regarding the most difficult challenges the state currently faces and potential solutions to them. Influencers help Californians understand the impact of key policy discussions and provide people in the state with guidance to successfully navigate important challenges.Housing California was invited to present at more than twenty local, regional, state, and national convenings, including: James Irvine Foundation Board Meeting, Smart Growth CA Convening, Southern CA Grantmaker's Public Policy Conference, the National Housing Conference's Gala Policy Symposium, The Alliance of Catholic Health Care Annual Public Policy Priority Setting Meeting, San Joaquin Valley Affordable Housing Summit, CA Alliance of Retired Americans Convention, Coachella Valley Housing Coalition, and the Sacramento Housing Alliance Annual Conference.The Organization served as an active member of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiatives (CZI) California-wide Voter Sentiment Study. The purpose of the study is to get a baseline assessment of how people feel about housing and homelessness, including the underlying values people have towards housing. Reviews of social science research were conducted and Housing California participated in numerous training opportunities and conversations to learn more about narrative shifting best practices.The Organizations primary means of communication include its website www.housingca.org, newsletter (8,083 subscribers), Facebook (2,993 followers and 2,642 likes), and Twitter (5,158 followers).

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