This One Goes to $11 Billion: Affordable Housing Bond Continues Assembly Democrats’ Push to Build Homes Faster and Lower Costs

Under Speaker Rivas' leadership, the Assembly has delivered sweeping legislation to tackle housing affordability - cutting red tape, speeding-up construction, stabilizing costs. This week, California leaders are doubling-down with a historic, $11.25 billion housing bond that builds on recent landmark housing reforms. It will fast-track more affordable homes and expand homeownership for veterans and working families.

SACRAMENTO - The $11.25 billion Veterans and Affordable Housing Bond Act of 2026 announced on Monday builds on the Assembly's bold and impactful housing agenda under Speaker Robert Rivas' leadership - which has resulted in landmark new laws that cut red tape, speed-up homebuilding, stabilize costs and make it easier to deliver the affordable housing Californians desperately need.

Now, the historic affordable housing bond is one of the largest investments in low-cost housing and homeownership in California history.

The legislation would put the multibillion-dollar housing bond on the ballot in November, empowering voters to green-light the construction of more affordable homes and expand pathways to homeownership while supporting veterans across the state.

How the Assembly is Making it Easier to Build Affordable Housing

The Assembly has made housing a central pillar of its affordability agenda - pairing major investments with some of the most significant housing reforms in decades. This two-year session, the Assembly delivered historic progress by:

• Streamlining Housing Development: In June 2025, the Legislature passed once-in-a-generation legislation to fast-track housing construction by reducing regulatory barriers, modernizing CEQA, and cutting red tape and costs - at no fiscal cost to the state. This was enacted into law on January 1, 2026.
• Investing in Affordable Housing: In the 2025-26 budget, the Assembly fought to allocate $500 million for the Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) and $120 million for multifamily housing developments. The Assembly is fighting for hundreds of millions in this year's budget as well.
• Preventing Street Homelessness: The 2025-26 budget also invested $1.5 billion through the Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention (HHAP) program to provide shelter and services for unhoused Californians.
• Improving Project Approval Time: New legislation empowered homeowners and developers to use licensed third-party professionals for plan checks when local agencies exceed 30-day review windows, speeding up the building process for small-scale housing.
• Holding State Agencies Accountable: Required state departments reviewing post-entitlement housing permits to meet the same deadlines already imposed on local agencies.
• Preventing Cost Increases for Future Housing: Enacted a temporary moratorium (2025-2031) on new state and local residential building standards that could increase construction costs, ensuring more affordability in the development process.

And just last month, Assembly Democrats advanced even more housing legislation to keep the momentum going - accelerating production, expanding access to affordable options and supporting first-time and middle-class homebuyers. These bills include:

• AB 1751 (Quirk-Silva) - Makes building townhomes easier and faster to offer more affordable housing options to middle-class Californians.
• AB 1815 (Wicks) - Speeds up housing production by providing more clarity for builders who develop new housing.
• AB 1406 (Ward) - Gives more Californians access to affordable homeownership by updating deposit rules for new housing developments.
• AB 1786 (Harabedian) - Helps local governments deliver housing, infrastructure and other public projects faster by expanding best-value contracting options.
• AB 1899 (Caloza) - Prevents youth homelessness by creating a statewide office focused on reducing youth and young adult homelessness.
• AB 1903 (Wicks) - Lowers housing costs by allowing builders to fix problems in newly built homes before costly litigation begins.
• AB 1924 (Gabriel) - Creates a statewide strategy to coordinate resources, scale what works and keep vulnerable Californians housed in order to prevent homelessness.
• AB 1934 (Bennett) - Maintains safety and stability for homeowners by creating a voluntary home-hardening certification plan for fire-safe upgrades and defensible space.
• AB 2074 (Haney) - Speeds-up housing construction near major transit hubs and creates a revolving loan fund to help lower building costs.
• AB 2176 (Fong) - Addresses student housing needs by creating an intersegmental working group focused on housing for community college and CSU students.
• AB 2518 (Sharp-Collins) - Connects affordable housing, health facilities and other community projects to power faster by setting clear utility energization timelines.

Advocates Praise the Affordable Housing Bond

"This final bond deal is a huge win for the millions of working families, veterans, and lower-income Californians who are struggling to find an affordable place to live. The Legislature and Governor have shown true leadership in getting this bond to the finish line, in spite of the fiscal challenges facing the state and the many competing interests for scarce public resources. There is a reason this legislation has remained such a priority: This bond can make a real difference in the lives of Californians - helping build and preserve the affordable homes every community desperately needs. We look forward to its final passage later this week, and we are ready to encourage voters to support this measure on the ballot in November."

-Ray Pearl, Executive Director of the California Housing Consortium and a Navy Veteran

"A new housing bond continues to be the only way to deliver the stable source of funding that is essential to address California's housing and homelessness crises. This historic bond, once approved by voters, will bring to bear the crucial state investment that communities need to build homes, create affordability, prevent displacement, and help people exit homelessness. We are encouraged by this important step forward and are excited to work with our partners to get this bond over the finish line in November."

-Chione Lucina Muñoz Flegal, Executive Director of Housing California

What Assembly Leaders Said About the Housing Bond

"California has been building toward this moment. We've cut red tape, fast-tracked construction, protected renters. And now, we're going bigger: $11.25 billion for affordable housing to expand homeownership for veterans and working families, drive down costs and prove that the door to opportunity is open to everyone. This is California delivering."

-Speaker of the Assembly Robert Rivas

"We all know the stats in California - two-thirds of lower-income renters are rent-burdened, 170,000 people are unsheltered, and we are 1.2 million units short of the affordable housing we need. But what gets lost when we're counting housing units and debating dollars and cents is that we're really talking about families who need a roof over their heads. Time and time again, we say that housing affordability and homelessness are top priorities, so it's incumbent on us to put our money where our mouth is and invest in housing programs that have proven their ability to deliver real results. What we can't afford is to wait."

-Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland)

About the Veterans and Affordable Housing Bond Act of 2026

The Veterans and Affordable Housing Bond Act of 2026 (Senate Bill 417) includes:

• $1.25 billion in self-supporting revenue bonds for the CalVet Home Loan Program, expected to help veterans and military families achieve homeownership. These bonds are repaid entirely through mortgage payments and do not rely on taxpayer funding.
• $10 billion in voter-approved general obligation bonds to finance the construction, rehabilitation, acquisition and preservation of affordable housing for lower-income Californians.
• Investments in the Multifamily Housing Program, the state's flagship affordable housing program.
• Targeted investments to expand affordable housing and homeownership opportunities for Californians with the greatest housing needs, including farmworkers, tribal communities, college students, homeless and at-risk youth, lower-income households and moderate-income first-time homebuyers.
• Tens of thousands of high-paying construction jobs.

The bond is expected to help more than 40,000 Californians purchase a home by providing down payment assistance, affordable mortgage financing and other homeownership support. These investments will help veterans, first-time and lower- to moderate-income homebuyers overcome the upfront costs of purchasing a home and make homeownership more attainable.

It will also support the creation or preservation of tens of thousands of affordable homes for lower-income Californians, including seniors, farmworkers, veterans and people experiencing or at risk of homelessness. Because these homes must remain affordable for at least 55 years, the bond represents a long-term investment that will expand housing opportunities and strengthen California communities for generations to come.

The bond will support tens of thousands of high-paying construction jobs as new housing is built across California. It is also designed to maximize taxpayer dollars by leveraging significant outside investment: for every $1 invested by the state, an estimated $4 in federal tax credits, local funding, private financing, and resident rents will help finance these developments, allowing California to build substantially more housing than state dollars alone could support.

Next Steps

The Housing Bond is scheduled to be voted on in both the Assembly and Senate on Thursday, June 25. Upon passage by the Legislature and signature by the Governor, the Act will be placed on the November 2026 ballot.