AB 2053 - The Social Housing Act

• Creates the California Housing Authority as an independent state entity to develop and acquire social housing for extremely low, very low, low, moderate, and above-moderate income households to close gaps between housing production and regional housing needs assessment targets.

• Establishes a 10-member governing board composed of housing experts, legislative appointees, a gubernatorial appointee, and three resident representatives elected by social housing residents, with board decisions requiring majority vote.

• Requires the authority to employ two leasing models: a rental model with one-year leases, and an ownership model offering 99-year limited equity leases with 15-percent down payments and monthly payments capped at 30 percent of household income.

• Mandates prevailing wage payments for all construction work, community workforce agreements where feasible, and skilled and trained workforce requirements for projects over $25 million, with civil penalties for violations.

• Authorizes the authority to issue revenue bonds for financing and requires annual business plans, gentrification impact analyses, and progress reports to the Legislature; establishes resident governance councils to participate in development decisions.