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Housing Committee Chair Haney Commits to Champion Governor’s Housing Executive Order as Wildfires Devastate Homes in Southern California

Chair of Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee commits to utilizing the Governor’s executive order and new budget proposal to rebuild homes in the aftermath of the Southern California fires

For immediate release:

Sacramento, CA – The Governor recently signed an executive order suspending many permitting and review requirements under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the California Coastal Act to allow families who have lost their homes and businesses to the fires to build back quickly.

“More than 150,000 people have been displaced from the Southern California fires, 150,000 people in urgent need of housing solutions,” said Assemblymember Haney, Chair of the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee. “The Governor’s swift action to remove unnecessary red tape is the key to rebuilding neighborhoods that have been lost to wildfires.”

Governor Newsom also released his proposed 2025-2026 budget last Friday, which included the creation of a new Housing and Homeless Agency, laser focused on building housing.

The new California Housing and Homeless Agency will oversee all housing funding and focus on removing administrative barriers that make building housing more costly. As the climate crisis continues, wildfires, floods and other natural disasters that impact people’s homes will only worsen. California needs to build a model for housing resiliency and this new Agency will further allow cities to better prepare for future disasters.

As California comes out of a budget deficit, the state needs to ensure housing remains a top priority. While the Governor’s budget makes cuts to the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC), California needs to work to reimagine how funding can be allocated without disrupting fundamental programs.

“The need to build more homes in California has never been more dire, and we need to rethink how we achieve our housing goals,” said Haney. “We owe it to the Californians who have lost their homes by taking inventory of our existing homebuilding policies, and responding urgently.”

The final budget will be approved by the Legislature on June 15, 2025.

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