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Committee advances Community Stabilization Act to help wildfire victims sell homes without predatory offers
Summary
AB 797 would let the state issue zero-interest securities bought with Community Reinvestment Act dollars so qualified nonprofits can buy wildfire-damaged homes and steward them for community benefit; committee advanced the bill to appropriations.
Assemblymember Harbidian introduced Assembly Bill 797, titled the Community Stabilization Act, describing proposals to stabilize property markets after destructive wildfires and protect homeowners from predatory offers.
Harbidian said the bill would authorize the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) to issue zero-interest securities that financial institutions could buy with Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) funds. Those resources would flow to qualified community nonprofit entities that could acquire damaged properties, hold them in community land trusts or similar stewardship models, and later resell or redevelop them with community-centered priorities.
“This bill … would issue 0 interest securities that would be purchased by financial institutions using Community Reinvestment Act dollars,” Harbidian told the committee, characterizing the plan as “0 cost to the state” because the monetization would occur when properties are later sold.
Shana England of the California Community Foundation testified in support, saying the foundation’s wildfire recovery funds had already distributed more than $30,000,000 to community-serving organizations and that AB 797 would “protect homeowners from predatory practices, prevent neighborhood destabilization, keep wealth circulating locally, and put the possibility of preserving the character of beloved neighborhoods … within reach.”
The committee recorded the motion to pass AB 797 to appropriations and logged the vote under committee action. The committee’s roll-call summary later lists the bill as due pass to appropriations (vote recorded in final committee minutes).
