加利福尼亚州总检察长周三表示，他将新的重点放在试图缓解该州看似棘手的经济适用房问题上，包括组建一支“打击力量”，专注于租户保护、不遵守州住房法的地方政府、及相关问题。
民主党总检察长罗伯·邦塔 (Rob Bonta) 表示，这支由 12 名成员组成的罢工部队将聘请来自州司法部现有四个部门的律师，他是 4 月上任的民主党人，明年必须竞选连任。
邦塔说：“我相信，这是加州司法部历史上独一无二的事情，即我们拥有的优先、重点和重点放在住房、执法上，”与新方法一样。
他指出，一项新法律澄清并增加了他与州住房和社区发展部一起执行州住房和分区法的权力。这包括在地方政府不增加住房供应（包括公平和经济适用房和出租物业）或满足其他要求的情况下，增加提起诉讼的权力。
“我们当然正在考虑当地司法管辖区建造更多住房的责任，”邦塔说，后来补充说，如果社区愿意拒绝遵守，“会有后果，会有责任”。
该部门设定了一个地区预计需要为所有收入水平提供住房的新住房单位数量，并且最近还创建了一个新的住房问责制单位以强制合规。
民主党参议员斯科特·维纳 (Scott Wiener) 说：“我们试图做的是，对这些有时已经存在长达 40 年的重要法律进行更多的研究，现在授权司法部长采取行动强制执行这些法律。”来自旧金山和扩大住房的支持者。
加州城市联盟执行董事兼首席执行官 Carolyn Coleman 表示，地方政府取得了重大进展，到 2023 年将计划在全州新建超过 200 万套住房。
她说，城市“多年来一直忍受着国家通过住房法的漫无目的的方式的鞭打，这些法律往往相互直接冲突，”她说。相反，官员们应该暂停“这些未经证实的自上而下的国家授权和执法政策”，转而与地方政府合作解决长达数十年的住房危机。
在一个例子中，该部门上周表示，它正在调查旧金山监事会最近拒绝拟建的 495 个单元的公寓楼，尽管主管古斯塔沃·贝拉斯克斯 (Gustavo Velasquez) 周三表示，到目前为止，他的部门只是在收集事实，看看该市是否违反了国家法律。
邦塔说，他的办公室在该调查中担任该部门的法律顾问。
加州还刚刚颁布了两项备受瞩目的住房法，其中一项要求城市批准最多四个单户住宅单位的住房。
邦塔说，司法部长的律师还将关注租户权利、抵押贷款和其他消费者保护法。
他在该部门的网站上宣布了一个新的“住房门户”，为房主和租房者提供资源和信息。有住房投诉或提示的人可以将其发送至
Housing@doj.ca.gov。
邦塔说，这是他“推进加州人的基本住房权利”努力的一部分，他长期以来一直认为这应该是一项法律上可执行的权利。
他的举动是州官员努力解决住房负担能力和人口最多的州大量无家可归人口问题的最新举措。
他说，估计有 150,000 名加州居民睡在避难所、汽车或街上，而另外 700,000 名加利福尼亚人面临被驱逐的风险。
单户住宅的中位价现在高达 80 万美元，他说这是自 1940 年代以来最低的房屋自有率。
邦塔表示，一个主要重点将是住房公平，并指出该州近一半的黑人家庭将其收入的 30% 以上用于住房，而白人家庭的这一比例约为三分之一。
California Attorney General Puts Focus on Affordable Housing
California's attorney general said Wednesday he is putting a new emphasis on trying to alleviate the state's seemingly intractable affordable housing problem, including by creating a “strike force” to focus on tenant protections, on local governments that don't comply with state housing laws, and related issues.
The 12-member strike force will draw on attorneys from four existing sections within the state Department of Justice, said Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat who took office in April and must run for reelection next year.
"This is, I believe, something unique in the history of the California Department of Justice to have the priority and emphasis and focus on housing, law enforcement, that we have" with the new approach, Bonta said.
He noted that a new law clarifies and increases his authority to enforce state housing and zoning laws alongside the state Department of Housing and Community Development. That includes added authority to file lawsuits if local governments don't boost their housing supply, including fair and affordable housing and rental properties, or meet other requirements.
“We are certainly looking at local jurisdictions’ responsibilities to build more housing,” Bonta said, adding later that “there will be consequences, there will be accountability” if communities willingly refuse to comply.
The department sets the number of new housing units that a region is projected to need to provide homes for all income levels, and also recently created a new Housing Accountability Unit to compel compliance.
“What we’ve tried to do is put more teeth into these important laws that have been around sometimes for as long as 40 years, and now empowering the attorney general to take action to enforce them,” said Sen. Scott Wiener, a Democrat from San Francisco and a proponent of expanded housing.
League of California Cities executive director and CEO Carolyn Coleman said local governments have been making significant progress and by 2023 will have planned for more than two million units of additional housing statewide.
Cities “for years have endured whiplash from the state’s scattershot approach to passing housing laws that are often in direct conflict with each other,” she said. Officials instead should pause “these unproven top-down state mandates and enforcement policies” in favor of working cooperatively with local governments to solve a decades-in-the-making housing crisis.
In one example, the department last week said it is investigatingthe San Francisco Board of Supervisors' recent rejection of a proposed 495-unit apartment building, though director Gustavo Velasquez said Wednesday that so far his department is just gathering facts and seeing if the city violated state law.
Bonta said his office is acting as the department's legal counsel in that inquiry.
California also just enacted two high-profile housing laws, including one requiring cities to approve up to four housing units on what was a single-family lot.
The attorney general's lawyers will also focus on tenant rights, mortgage and other consumer protection laws, Bonta said.
He announced a new “housing portal” on the department’s website with resources and information for homeowners and renters. Those with housing complaints or tips can send them to housing@doj.ca.gov.
Bonta said it's part of his effort to "advance Californians’ fundamental right to housing,” something he has long held should be a legally enforceable right.
His move is the latest step in state officials' efforts to address housing affordability and the most populous state's massive homeless population.
An estimated 150,000 of the state's residents are sleeping in shelters, in their cars, or on the street, he said, while another 700,000 Californians are at risk of eviction.
The median price of a single-family home now tops $800,000, which he said has led to the lowest homeownership rates since the 1940s.
Bonta said one major emphasis will be on housing equity, noting that nearly half of the state's Black households spend more than 30% of their income on housing, in contrast to about a third of white households.
