Affordable Housing Leaders Unite Behind Prop 45 to Lower Housing Costs and Build the Homes Californians Need
October 2, 2026
Affordable housing builders, veterans advocates and senior housing leaders say Prop 45 will cut costly delays, add nearly 200,000 homes over the next decade and lower rents for working families
Sacramento, CA — Leading advocates for affordable housing are uniting behind Yes on Prop 45 to lower housing costs and get desperately needed homes built faster, pointing out that years of unnecessary delays are putting affordable housing out of reach for the working families, veterans, and seniors who need it most.
“We cannot deliver the affordable housing families need because red tape and bureaucratic roadblocks drive up costs and delay projects for years before construction even begins,” said Crystal M. Yelverton, Chief Executive Officer of Homes 4 Families. “Veterans and their families on waiting lists across California pay the price for that uncertainty in higher rents and longer waits. Prop 45 provides the certainty we need to get homes built and get families moved in.”
Prop 45 addresses exactly the kind of endless delay that gets in the way of the essential projects we need. Prop 45, the Building an Affordable California Act, establishes clear, enforceable timelines for the review and approval of essential projects, including affordable housing and shelters. It also requires courts to resolve legal challenges to essential projects within 270 days, bringing predictability to California’s broken permitting process so the state can build what it needs faster and more affordably.
Prop 45 is expected to cut costly delays by 2 to 10+ years and add nearly 200,000 homes over the next decade, while preserving California’s strong environmental, labor, and tribal cultural resource protections.
“Despite being one of the wealthiest states in America, California’s poverty rate continues to climb due to a lack of stable, affordable housing. As a result, this crisis disproportionately impacts communities of color,” said Ken Barnes, President and CEO of the Greater Sacramento Urban League. “Prop 45 is a responsible step toward keeping California’s promise of a better life, ensuring a safe, affordable home is within reach for everyone.”
California faces a severe shortage of affordable homes, yet affordable housing projects are routinely delayed for years by frivolous lawsuits, duplicative reviews, and prolonged litigation. Those delays drive up construction costs, add more than $75,000 to the cost of a new home and keep families waiting longer for homes they can afford. For these projects, timing and certainty are everything: most rely on the tax credit system– which gives builders a limited window to put those credits to work – and prolonged delays can jeopardize the financing that makes them possible in the first place.
“When projects sit in litigation for years, that money goes to legal fees and holding costs instead of building more affordable homes, and fewer families get a place they can afford to live,” said Amie Fishman, Executive Director of the Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California. “Prop 45 will help us build affordable housing faster and at a lower cost.”
Prop 45 is supported by a broad and growing coalition of more than 175 organizations, including affordable housing developers, housing advocates, homelessness service providers, veterans advocates and senior organizations.
Housing and affordable housing organizations supporting Prop 45 include:
- California Council for Affordable Housing
- California Housing Consortium
- California Senior Alliance
- Circulate Planning and Policy
- Eden Housing
- Greater Sacramento Urban League
- Homes 4 Families
- Housing Action Coalition
- Inner City Law Center
- LeadingAge California
- Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California
- Our Community Works
- 21st Century Alliance
BACKGROUND: Prop 45, the Building an Affordable California Act, modernizes California’s project approval and permitting process for essential projects — including housing, water infrastructure, clean energy, transportation infrastructure, hospitals and health care facilities, schools, broadband, and wildfire prevention projects — by establishing clear timelines, improving accountability, and reducing unnecessary delays, while preserving strong environmental, labor, and tribal cultural resource protections. Prop 45 is supported by a broad and growing coalition of 160+ organizations, including affordable housing advocates, civil rights leaders, clean energy builders, water providers, agricultural groups, and business organizations statewide.
Learn More: YESonProp45.com