Newsom Signs Housing Bill, a Boon for Affordable Housing

AB 1490 (Lee, D-Freemont) will expand adaptive reuse of existing buildings to create affordable housing

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) thanks California Governor Gavin Newsom for signing AB 1490, a bill that AHF sponsored which now requires local governments to permit and expand adaptive reuse of existing buildings which will create new low- and very-low-income housing more quickly and at a lower cost.

“We applaud Governor Newsom on signing AB 1490, which is designed to expand the use of adaptive reuse at the local level to address homelessness and our low-income housing crisis,” said Susie Shannon, Policy Director for Housing Is A Human Right, the housing advocacy division of AHF. “We would like to thank bill author Assemblymember Alex Lee (D-Freemont) for his leadership in shepherding the bill through the legislature and helping to secure Governor Newsom’s signature.”

AHF has been using adaptive reuse since 2017 in its Healthy Housing Foundation to renovate abandoned properties and provide affordable housing in California, Florida, New York, and Texas. In California alone, AHF has transformed 14 buildings through adaptive reuse, helping more than 1,400 people off the streets in California and giving them a stable place to live.

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the world’s largest HIV/AIDS healthcare organization, provides cutting-edge medicine and advocacy to more than 1.9 million individuals across 45 countries, including the U.S. and in Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region, and Eastern Europe. To learn more about AHF, visit us online at AIDShealth.org, find us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok, and subscribe to our AHFter Hours podcast.

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AB 1490, a bill that Assemblymember Alex Lee authored & AHF sponsored, requires local governments to permit and expand the adaptive reuse of existing buildings which will create new low- and very-low-income housing more quickly and at a lower cost.