Brown signs bill to speed building for the homeless

SACRAMENTO — San Francisco, Berkeley and Oakland will be able to quickly build shelters for homeless people using “extraordinary” powers to bypass regulatory hurdles under a bill Gov. Jerry Brown signed Saturday.

AB932 by Assemblyman Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, creates a pilot program allowing certain cities and counties to suspend state and local building standards for three years when a local shelter crisis is declared so that temporary shelters can be built on publicly owned or leased land. The pilot program, which will run between Jan. 1, 2018, and Jan. 1, 2021, applies to San Francisco, Berkeley, Emeryville, Los Angeles, Oakland, San Diego and Santa Clara County.

Brown wrote in his signing message that the “extraordinary grant of exception should be used wisely and expeditiously” by cities in the pilot program.

“The thousands and thousands of men and women living on our streets are looking to the leaders of these communities for decent shelter and a place of dwelling, not abandonment,” Brown wrote, adding that coupled with other housing bills, the legislation presents “a unique opportunity for creativity and compassion to the growing number of homeless people. Don’t let them down.”

Currently, building housing for the homeless can take about five years in San Francisco. Though shelters are quicker to build, they too are often tied up with housing, zoning and other regulations. Under Ting’s bill, local governments could adopt their own standards, although the California Department of Housing and Community Development must approve the new regulations within 30 days.

“This bill gives us a chance to explore new and innovative solutions to help more people get off the street,” Ting said. “California has a homelessness crisis, and it’s painfully obvious that business as usual is failing.”

San Francisco Supervisor London Breed pledged to draft legislation to enact the bill locally if it was signed by Brown, “so that our shelters can actually provide services and real opportunities for permanent housing.”