Gov. Gavin Newsom signed two controversial housing bills into law Thursday that could affect neighborhoods currently reserved for single-family housing, but the effect they will have on Long Beach will likely be less severe than what some opponents have claimed.
After signing into law Senate bills 9 and 10, Newsom said, “The housing affordability crisis is undermining the California Dream for families across the state, and threatens our long-term growth and prosperity.”
The city’s Department of Developmental Services is proposing offering developers more incentives to build moderate-, low- and very-low-income housing, particularly along transit corridors and near job centers.
Senate Bills 9 and 10 would allow for certain single-family home lots to be converted into duplexes or larger developments if they have the room, or in the case of SB10, if the council agrees to rezone areas to allow 10-unit developments.
Council members Al Austin, Stacy Mungo Flanigan and Suzie Price are signed onto a request authored by Austin that will be voted on at the City Council’s Tuesday meeting.
The Long Beach City Council is preparing to vote on a moratorium that could block evictions driven by landlords pursuing remodels to buildings. Property owners and tenants rights groups disagree over how broadly the ban should be applied.
Statewide housing affordability reached its lowest level since mid-2018, as higher prices fueled by a shortage of homes for sale pushed the state’s median home price more than 22% higher on a year-over-year basis, according to the California Association of Realtors.
A preliminary inventory shows a concentration of available parcels in the city’s Downtown area as well as North and Central Long Beach. Nearly all of neighborhoods east of Lakewood Boulevard or Ximeno Avenue were left out of the inventory.
The site is one of three former hotels and motels in Long Beach that was purchased with funds from the state’s Project Homekey program.
