PRESS RELEASE - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 29, 2026
Contact
Colin Parent, (619) 567-6856, [email protected]
Governor Newsom Signs the Affordable Homeownership Bonus Law, Circulate’s sponsored legislation to Build More Affordable Homes
SAN DIEGO – Today, Governor Newsom signed the Affordable Homeownership Bonus Law (AB 2433) into law. The new law, authored by Assemblymember David Alvarez and sponsored by Circulate Planning & Policy, will boost homeownership, create more affordable homes, and streamline housing approvals.
The law reforms California Bonus Law, a state law that streamlines approvals by granting benefits to projects that build affordable homes. Bonus law is already California’s most utilized housing incentive program. The reforms just enacted by AB 2433 will take this already effective program and make it even more conducive to building more affordable homes more quickly.
“We are grateful to Governor Newsom for continuing to improve Bonus Law, the most effective housing streamlining law in California,” said Colin Parent, CEO and General Counsel of Circulate. “By the numbers, legislation to enhance this statute have created more housing approvals than any other legislation Governor Newsom has signed during his two terms.”
“The Affordable Homeownership Bonus Law will make it easier to build homes that working families can purchase,” said Assemblymember David Alvarez. “I thank Governor Newsom for signing this bill and for his commitment to housing that people can actually afford. Families in the South Bay and across California are waiting to buy their first home, and this law will help give them that opportunity."
"AB 2433 strengthens and improves a powerful tool for producing mixed-income and 100% affordable housing developments, both rental and for-sale. The measure builds on past success by incentivizing developers to include below market-rate homes in their apartment buildings and subdivisions while enhancing feasibility. We are grateful to Assemblymember Alvarez for his commitment to ensuring this program can be implemented seamlessly at the local level to produce the housing we need,” said Michael Lane, State Policy Director with SPUR.
"Assembly Bill 2433 is a critical step toward expanding the supply of affordable housing in the San Diego region and across California,” said San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Chris Cate. “The bill addresses one of the most pressing challenges facing businesses in our region: attracting and retaining talent amid persistently high housing costs and a severe shortage of available homes. By expanding housing opportunities, this legislation helps strengthen our workforce and supports the long-term economic competitiveness of the San Diego region. We commend Assemblymember Alvarez for his leadership on this urgent issue and thank Governor Newsom for signing AB 2433 and delivering real advancements for housing affordability.”
“AB 2433 strengthens California’s Bonus Law by increasing incentives for affordable homes and streamlining project approvals. We applaud Governor Newsom for signing this important measure and thank Assemblymember Alvarez for his leadership,” said Inner City Law Center Policy Director, Mahdi Manji.
The bill’s reforms focus on boosting homeownership, creating more affordable homes, and streamlining approvals through the following policy reforms:
· Create More For-Sale Affordable Homes: Grants additional incentives to homebuilders creating deed-restricted for-sale homes for low- and moderate-income families.
· Deeply Affordable Housing: Ensures that homebuilders can deed-restrict their units at levels more affordable than the levels outlined in statute. This will ensure that 100 percent affordable homebuilders can access the full stacked bonus available under AB 1287.
· Streamlining Approvals: Streamlines the approval process for homebuilders to make sure that homes are approved more quickly and face less barriers. Policy reforms include making benefits automatic, reaffirming the non-discretionary approval of benefits, and clarifying that Bonus Law projects receive development certainty after their initial application.
California Bonus Law has strong roots in San Diego. Bonus Law has been on the books since 1979, but has only been widely effective in recent years, thanks in part to reforms born and bred in San Diego. Mayor Falconer adopted an enhanced bonus in the City of San Diego. In 2020, Circulate sponsored this policy for statewide adoption, with AB 2345 (Gonzalez). Circulate later worked with Assemblymember Alvarez to enact AB 1287 in 2023, which created an additional bonus. The adoption of AB 2433 is now the third successful enhancement to Bonus Law sponsored by Circulate.
Earlier this year, Circulate published a report “Win-Win Bonus,” which details how Bonus Law has become the most widely used law for housing streamlining in California. For example, in 2024, Bonus Law was used ten times more than all other streamlining laws combined. AB 2433 makes further enhancements to this successful law.
Circulate Planning & Policy sponsored AB 2433 with the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, SPUR, the Inner City Law Center, and the Greenbelt Alliance.
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A downloadable PDF version can be found here.
