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Committee advances constitutional amendment to dedicate a floor of general-fund money to housing
Summary
Assemblymember Corey Jackson presented ACA 4, and the committee voted to adopt the measure as amended and refer it to the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
Assemblymember Corey Jackson presented ACA 4, called the Housing Opportunities Made Equal (HOPE) Act, and the Assembly Human Services Committee voted to adopt the measure as amended and refer it to the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
Supporters including Eric Vasquez of EAH Housing and Mimi Khalili of AG Global Solutions urged the committee to back a stable, constitutionally protected funding stream for affordable housing and homelessness services. “Dedicating a 5% minimum from the state's general fund is something that we have been advocating for,” said Eric Vasquez, testifying on behalf of EAH Housing. Mimi Khalili described poverty and housing instability as root causes of broader social harms and said the measure would create “stable funding.”
Nut graf: ACA 4 would place a funding floor in the state constitution intended to increase and stabilize funding for affordable housing and homelessness response. Proponents argued dedicated funding would unlock units and services at scale; some members and public commenters questioned whether additional funding alone would fix problems rooted in local land-use processes and implementation barriers.
Committee debate: Committee members pressed witnesses about the scale of current spending and whether more funding would improve outcomes. A committee member cited a five-year total of $36 billion spent on homelessness and asked whether money alone solves the problem; proponents responded that investments have slowed homelessness and that housing stock shortage and regulatory barriers also must be addressed. The motion to adopt the measure as amended and pass to appropriations carried on a recorded vote (final vote recorded as 5–2).
Ending: ACA 4 was adopted as amended and sent to the Assembly Appropriations Committee for fiscal review and scheduling. If it continues to advance, the constitutional amendment would require separate legislative steps and ultimately voter approval to become part of the California Constitution.
