California wants more tiny homes

A Democratic senator in California is trying to pass legislation that would speed up the construction of temporary tiny homes to shelter homeless people, relieving the Golden State’s ongoing crisis.

Senator Josh Becker, who represents California’s Senate District 13, introduced Senate Bill 1395 in February, in an attempt to streamline interim housing projects on a statewide level and house homeless people quickly.

The measure, also called the Interim Housing Act, would make relocatable, non-congregate interim housing eligible for streamline zoning, reducing construction time and costs, as well as cutting red tape and speeds up approvals for local governments that want to build them.

“It expedites the process for cities and counties to build more housing options and significantly increase the inventory,” Becker said of the bill. “With the development of more interim housing, we can put a roof over the heads of our unhoused neighbors faster so that they can get back on their feet and on track towards permanent housing.”

Newsweek contacted Becker for comment by phone on Wednesday morning, outside of standard working hours.

California has one of the highest rates of homelessness in the country. In 2023, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development reported that there were 181,399 unhoused Californians—28 percent of the country’s total homeless population.

Between 2007 and 2023 the homelessness rate surged by 30.5 percent in California; between 2022 and 2023 alone, it rose by 5.8 percent.

According to the department, last year the Golden State accounted for 48 percent of all unsheltered people in the country, with a total of 123,423 homeless people without a roof over their heads. “This is nearly eight times the number of unsheltered people in the state with the next highest number, Florida,” the department wrote.

Becker said that “despite concerted efforts to increase housing production, California’s budget, land, and zoning limitations inhibit sufficient permanent housing construction.”

“This is really a California issue,” Becker said during a press conference on August 6. “Over the last 10 years, people on the street are suffering much worse outcomes. They’re dying on the street, they’re being insulted on the street, they’re becoming addicted to drugs on the street,” he added.

“And the key is how can we move people into shelters? How can we help them rebuild their lives quickly?[…]SB 1395 will help save lives by bridging the gap between being unsheltered and finding permanent housing.”

SB 1395 puts interim housing—like temporary small homes shelters—at the center of a short-term solution that could save lives in California. Several cities across different states in the U.S. have built temporary tiny homes shelters to address the urgent issue of housing people at a time when the U.S. housing market is particularly unaffordable.

Last year, California Governor Gavin Newsom promised the construction of 1,200 tiny homes to shelter the state’s homeless population as part of a $1-billion initiative, but until now only 150 have reportedly been purchased. Los Angeles is expected to receive 500 units; Sacramento 350 units; San Jose 200 units; and San Diego County 150 units.

The slow progress of the initiative is due to the fact that the responsibility to buy and place the tiny homes was moved from the state to the jurisdiction of each city and county, Fortune reported. Last month, Newsom notified San Diego that the state was withdrawing its $10-million grant after the county moved too slowly to build the tiny home shelters.

The problem of housing homeless people has become particularly urgent after the Supreme Court ruled in July to allow local governments to enforce laws against people sleeping in public spaces. At the end of the same month, Newsom issued an executive order calling for the removal of homeless encampments across the state—whether the people living there can found a shelter to stay in or not—with the idea of putting additional pressure on local governments to address the crisis.

Tiny homes—which normally measure an average 400 square feet or less—are usually fitted with a bed, a small toilet, WiFi, and air conditioning or electric fans. Experts told Newsweek that while they are a key part of the solution, they can only be considered a temporary option before housing homeless people permanently in bigger spaces.

“Tiny homes are in many ways safer than being on the streets unsheltered. However, they are not a long-term solution,” Jamie Chang, an associate professor at the School of Social Welfare at the University of California, Berkeley, previously told Newsweek.

“It is essential to view tiny homes as a temporary option that should be a stepping stone to more stable housing in a larger, permanent unit.”

SB 1395 is sponsored by San Jose’s Mayor Matt Mahan, Dignity Moves, the Bay Area Council, and the San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association. It also has the backing of San Francisco’s Mayor London Breed.