On Oct. 1, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a state partnership with Stockton and Sacramento to develop affordable housing on state-owned land.
The city of Stockton will be the first city in California to receive state-owned affordable housing as part of Newsom’s Excess Land for Affordable Housing executive order.
“This is incredible news for Stockton as an example of how state and local governments can partner together to address the housing crisis,” said Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs in a news release from Governor Gavin Newsom.
These housing opportunities will be made available to low-income and middle class families and/or individuals that qualify under the state’s approval.
The executive order was signed by Newsom in January and is now beginning the process of being physically implemented on pieces of state-owned land across Stockton.
Soon, more than 100 new apartments will be built in downtown Stockton located at 601 East Miner Avenue and 622 East Lindsay Street by the end of 2020.
Tubbs has been pushing to bring affordable housing to Stockton in light of the homeless epidemic and will potentially help those struggling in the housing crisis.
“When we reached out for assistance, Governor Gavin Newsom moved quickly, aligning state resources to help Stockton, which has seen the second highest rent increases in the nation,” said Tubbs in Newsom’s release.
Another part of Stockton’s initiative to help low-income residents includes the recent and ongoing Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration (SEED).
Recent data released on Tubbs’ Facebook page shows how recipients of the universal basic income project have been spending their $500 a month stipend with a significant 40 percent being spent on food, 22 percent on merchandise, and 10 percent on auto care.
With 125 recipients of the SEED project, Tubbs and the city council continue to look for more ways to reinvent Stockton.
The city now has one more thing to look forward to as a way to aid its’ citizens in low-income situations and fight its’ homelessness epidemic with state-owned low income housing units.
