Yes on Proposition 1
Authorizes Bonds for Housing Affordability Programs
What is it?
Prop 1 is an $11.25B bond: $10B to finance subsidized housing and $1.25B for CalVet loans to help veterans buy farms, homes, and mobile homes.
The state repays the housing bonds from the General Fund over up to 35 years. The CalVet funds are different: veterans' loan payments pay those bonds back, and the General Fund covers any shortfall.
Fund allocations
Half of the $10B housing bond funds go toward the Multifamily Housing Program, totaling $5.1B to build and renovate affordable rentals. The other half will be divided across supportive housing ($1.15B), the CalHome Program ($600M) and Home Purchase Assistance Fund ($500M) to help people buy homes, infrastructure ($500M), and $1B for farmworker, student, and tribal housing, among others.
The Legislature can change these splits later without going back to voters.
The remaining $1.25B for veterans funds the existing CalVet program to help veterans buy farms and homes.
Accountability
The state must publish a yearly report on how it spent the bond money.
Read the full annotated legal text →
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Fiscal impacts
Prop 1 borrows $11.25B. The $10B housing portion is repaid with interest out of the General Fund. The Legislative Analyst's Office estimates that would cost $500M to $600M per year for about 25 years, roughly one quarter of one percent of the state budget. Because the state pays interest, the bond costs about 15% more than paying cash up front.
The $1.25B veterans portion is different. Veterans who take out the home loans repay the state, akin to paying down a mortgage, and those payments have always covered what is owed on the bonds, so that piece has historically cost the General Fund nothing.
Why is this on the ballot?
The state constitution requires voters to approve general obligation bonds.
Article XVI of the California Constitution mandates that debt exceeding $300,000 (including state bonds) be submitted to the public for a vote. Bonds must first be approved by a two-thirds majority of both houses of the state Legislature, and then by a simple majority of the voters.
- Placed on ballot by: The California Legislature, via Senate Bill 417. Passed both houses on June 25, 2026, and signed by the Governor the same day.
- Author: Senate President pro Tempore Monique Limón
Why vote Yes?
Prop 1 would deliver the funding to build about 45,000 subsidized homes that are already fully designed, permitted, and ready to break ground.
Bonds are required to fund this construction because California shut down ongoing funding in 2012 when the Legislature dissolved local redevelopment agencies. Prior to 2012, more than $1B per year was available to build low-income housing, but ever since it has been paid for by one-time bonds that voters are required to approve: $2.1B in 2002, $2.85B in 2006, $4B in 2018. Each bond gets fully committed to projects across the state, and then the pipeline freezes until the next voter-approved bond. That is a terrible way to fund something you need every year, and it is fair for voters to be annoyed by it.
But the good news is that these bonds work. Averaged across past bonds, every $100,000 of state money turns into a home for a low-income family trying to make ends meet. As of June 2024, the 2018 bond delivered or funded 22,735 homes on a $2.34B bond. Note, however, that not all have been built; those homes are at every stage from just-funded to fully-occupied.
Unfortunately, costs have risen from about $100,000 per home to about $250,000, so we estimate this $11B bond will fund about 40,000 homes.
We want to note that California is particularly expensive because of high labor costs and expensive design rules that the government requires for these projects. RAND found that California builds subsidized housing at 1.5 times the cost of market-rate housing here, and four times the Texas average.
Voters must choose between funding a program that's expensive but works, or waiting for regulators to fix their self-imposed high construction costs. We think voters should authorize the bond and push for better cost controls. Every year a permitted project waits, its costs climb and its financing has to be rebuilt, so a delay itself burns public money. Vote Yes on Prop 1 to build the homes California has already approved.