Imagining Social Housing:
Community Engagement for a California Social Housing Study
What is Social Housing?
Senate Bill 555 defines social housing as housing that meets all of the following requirements:
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The housing units are owned and managed by a public agency, a local authority, a limited-equity housing cooperative, or a mission-driven nonprofit entity solely for the benefit of residents and households unable to afford market rent.
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Each social housing development contains housing units that accommodate a mix of household income ranges, including extremely low, very low, low-, and moderate-income households unable to afford market rent, and all housing units are permanently deed-restricted affordable to households at each of those income levels.
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Residents of the housing units enjoy full protection against termination without just cause or for any discriminatory, retaliatory, or other arbitrary reason, and shall be afforded due process prior to being subject to eviction procedures.
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The housing units are protected for the duration of their useful life, and the land associated with the housing units is protected permanently, from being sold or transferred to any private person or for-profit entity or a public-private partnership.
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Residents have the right to participate directly and meaningfully in decisionmaking affecting the operation and management of the housing units in which they reside.