Help Get AB 1837—the homes in community hands act—Over the finish line

AB1837 (Bonta) (fact sheet available here) is on to the senate floor but continues to face opposition and disinformation from investors and their allies who stand to benefit if AB1837 fails. We need your help to make sure our elected leaders understand that low-income communities and communities of color urgently need this intervention!

By strengthening SB 1079, the 2020 anti-speculation law, and deterring those who would misuse it, AB 1837 (Bonta) supports community ownership of homes at foreclosure auction and helps tenants fight displacement.

Help us get in front of investor speculation and tenant displacement and tell our lawmakers that we want community ownership and permanent affordability instead! Pass AB1837 this year!

Please copy or adapt the letter below and submit it to Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins at [email protected]

Dear Senate President Pro Tem Atkins,

SB 1079 (Skinner), which went into effect January 1st, 2021, was written to stop the displacement of tenants and marginalization of first-time homebuyers by corporate investors who capitalize on foreclosures.

However, in 2021, housing advocates became aware that for-profit actors were finding ways to defy the foreclosure intervention law and even manipulate it in their favor. In some cases, investors masquerade as nonprofits or owner occupants in order to access the benefits of SB1079. In other cases, bad actors take advantage of imprecise eligibility definitions in the law to buy and flip properties for profit.

AB 1837 (Bonta) ensures that SB 1079’s purpose is actualized by strengthening the existing law and deterring those who would misuse it. The bill would revise the definition of an eligible nonprofit buyer and expand affidavit and declaration requirements for eligible bidders. AB 1837 (Bonta) would also authorize the Attorney General, a county counsel, a city attorney, or district attorney, to bring actions to enforce these provisions, would restrict evictions in homes acquired through the existing foreclosure intervention law, and would require that, in specific cases, units be maintained as affordable to lower income households. 

Investors who have exploited SB 1079’s loopholes are spreading misinformation about AB 1837 in order to preserve their profits. We ask that you stand with over fifty organizations across California in supporting AB 1837. 

See a list of AB 1837’s supporters here: https://bit.ly/3Qt1gJV

AB 1837 is a fiscally responsible way for our state to ensure proper implementation of the existing foreclosure intervention law and help keep homeownership and stable housing within the reach of families. For these reasons and many others, we are strongly in support of AB 1837.

Please lead the Senate in supportingAB 1837, The Homes in Community Hands Act!

Sincerely,