What’s going on with housing and homelessness in California in 2026?

The state coffers that fund affordable housing are running low, the Trump administration is upending federal housing policy and despite last year’s historic legislative push to boost residential construction, housing costs continue to put the squeeze on California. Different legislators have different ways to tackle that problem in 2026. Yes-in-my-backyard-oriented lawmakers will push forward more cost-cutting measures for development, with a particular focus on reducing building costs and local fees and expanding opportunities for homeownership. Tenant rights groups will likely call again for tighter rent caps and tenant protections, though they had limited luck last year. Affordable housers will push for a new bond on the 2026 ballot. But as Election Day nears, the legislature’s appetite for controversial votes tends to wane, so there may not be quite so many big policy swings this year.

CalMatters housing and homelessness team:

Editor: Richard Procter, [email protected]
Housing Reporter Ben Christopher, [email protected]
Homelessness Reporter Marisa Kendall, [email protected]

Quick Facts

54%: Share of California renters spending at least 30% of their income toward rent.
7.5x: How much larger the price of the average home is than the state’s median household income.
2,500,253: The number of new homes California’s housing department says the state needs to build before 2030 to meet demand.
187,084: The number of homeless Californians, per the latest point-in-time count estimate.
24%: The percentage of homeless Americans that live in California.

Housing and homelessness Bills

In Focus

Here are all of the bills related to housing or homelessness that are being considered this session. Highlighted bills are identified by CalMatters as among the most significant this year.

AB 698 In Progress

Property transfer tax caps

Buffy Wicks

This bill would put new restrictions on the taxes that locals can impose on the sale of new property. This motivated both by the City of Los Angeles, where a 2022 transfer tax policy has been blamed for a slow down in development, but also to undercut political support for a proposed ballot measure that would place significantly tighter restrictions on such taxes

AB 736 In Progress

Affordable Housing Bond

Buffy Wicks

This bill would place a $10 billion bond on the November statewide ballot to top-up a number of the state’s key affordable housing funds. Many of these programs, including the state’s signature Multifamily Housing Program, were last funded by a 2018 bond and are now running low on cash.

SB 1007 In Progress

Regulating homeowners associations

Caroline Menjivar

This is one of two bills, the other being Assembly Bill 1184, that seek to make homeowners associations behave more like local governments by adding more transparency to meetings, finances and punitive actions towards homeowners.

AB 1406 In Progress

Condo deposits

Chris Ward

This bill would allow condo developers to accept deposit money from prospective buyers and put it toward the cost of construction. New condos are relatively rare in California and supporters hope that providing the people who build it with a lower cost financing source will help spur the moribund market.

AB 647

Abandoned recreational vehicles.