In summary

In the latest episode of the California housing crisis podcast, new Assembly Housing Committee chairperson Buffy Wicks talks about her priorities.

Please subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud and Stitcher.

New year, new leader of the California Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee.

The chairperson shapes all housing-related legislation at the state Capitol, and when David Chiu took a new job as the San Francisco city attorney last November, the role became vacant. It has now been filled by Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, a Democrat from Oakland.

To kick off the new legislative session, CalMatters’ Manuela Tobias and the Los Angeles Times’ Liam Dillon invited Wicks to discuss her priorities in the latest installment of “Gimme Shelter: The California Housing Crisis Podcast.”

“We just did a big housing tour in the fall across the state,” Wicks said, “and I think some of the main things that we found that I plan on working on along with some of my colleagues: One, there was a constant drumbeat of a need for a dedicated continued long-term funding source for affordable housing.”

Another budget priority: more rent relief dollars, which were absent from the budget proposed by Gov. Gavin Newsom this week. While the state requested $1.9 billion from the federal government, it received only $62 million in a recent fund reallocation.

“We have to keep people housed,” she said. “That is like, non-negotiable.”

Learn more about legislators mentioned in this story

D

Buffy Wicks

State Assembly, District 15 (Oakland)

Expand for more about this legislator D

Buffy Wicks

State Assembly, District 15 (Oakland)

Time in office

2018 — present

Background

Community Organizer

Contact

Email Legislator

How they voted 2019-2020 Liberal Conservative District 15 Demographics

Race/Ethnicity

Latino 24% White 39% Asian 20% Black 12% Multi-race 5%

Voter Registration

Dem 70% GOP 6% No party 21% Other 4% Learn More

Homeownership opportunities for lower-income people of color and tenant protections are also at the top of her legislative agenda to address the California housing crisis. While no big zoning bills are on the docket yet – the single-family zoning bill approved last year was “a big lift for a lot of people,” Wicks said – she plans to “be a big supporter of that type of policymaking.”

Wicks said she was concerned about a potential constitutional amendment for the November 2022 ballot to reassert local control over zoning and land-use decisions.

“My hope is that it doesn’t make it onto the ballot, we’ll see,” she said. “But if it does, I think we need to fight it at every turn.”

“I heard this in the L.A. meeting of like, ‘Okay, the locals got it. We’ve got it under control,’” she added. “But then you look at the housing crisis, and you look at the homelessness crisis, and like, no, actually what we’ve seen in many places, not everywhere, but in many places, is a lot of resistance to building homes.”

&&&&

Gimme Shelter issue suggestions

• Which housing issues would you like to hear more about on the podcast?
• Who should be a guest?

Δ

###

CALmatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.