Newsom Signs SB 799, Opening the South Bay Housing Trust to Workforce Housing
Governor Gavin Newsom has signed Senate Bill 799, expanding the South Bay Regional Housing Trust's authority to finance housing for moderate-income workers, the South Bay Cities Council of Governments announced Wednesday. The bill, authored by Sen. Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica), lets the trust tap private and public funding to finance workforce-housing developments for households earning between 80% and 120% of area median income.
That income band is the heart of the story. Before SB 799, the trust - a joint powers authority created this April - could only legally fund housing for people experiencing homelessness and for extremely low-, very low- and low-income households. The expanded authority covers the "missing middle": teachers, first responders and health care professionals who earn too much to qualify for traditional low-income housing subsidies but cannot afford market-rate homes in the South Bay communities where they work.
"We're extremely grateful to Senator Ben Allen for understanding and addressing our needs in the South Bay with SB799 to help us protect the housing future of the 'missing middle,' who are being priced out of the communities they serve," said Debby Stegura, chair of the South Bay Regional Housing Trust and a Rolling Hills Estates council member. "The price of displacement of these essential workers is one our communities cannot afford to pay, when it comes to preserving the safety, education and quality of life of our subregion now and in the future."
Some practical context: the bill does not appropriate or obligate state money for any specific housing project, and it places limits on the use of state funds. It also authorizes the trust to finance the preservation of existing affordable housing. It amends the 2022 legislation Allen authored that allowed Los Angeles County and the South Bay Cities Council of Governments' member cities to form the trust in the first place.
The trust already has a track record. In May it approved funding for its first project: a $6 million loan for the Cordary Avenue Apartments in Hawthorne, a proposed $75 million, 90-unit affordable development at 14115 Cordary Ave. by nonprofit Abode Communities. The loan was the first allocation from $7.9 million in Los Angeles County Affordable Housing Solutions Agency funds earmarked annually for the South Bay through Measure A.
For South Bay watchers, the member list is what makes this local: El Segundo, Hawthorne, Hermosa Beach, Inglewood, Lawndale, Lomita, Manhattan Beach, Rancho Palos Verdes, Rolling Hills Estates, Redondo Beach and Torrance. The real test will be whether trust financing can actually produce workforce units at 80% to 120% of area median income in markets where new-construction math is already tight at 7%+ rates - but the mechanism is now in place.
Source: MyNewsLA - https://mynewsla.com/business/2026/10/07/newsom-signs-bill-expanding-south-bay-housing-trust-powers/
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