LA Times: Gov. Brown just signed 15 housing bills. Here’s how they’re supposed to help the affordability crisis

Gov. Jerry Brown has finalized lawmakers’ most robust response to California’s housing affordability problems in recent memory. The “15 good bills” Brown signed into law here Friday morning include a new fee on real estate transactions and a $4-billion bond on the 2018 ballot that together could raise close to $1 billion a year in the near term to help subsidize new homes for low-income residents. “It is a big challenge. We have risen to it this year,” Brown said. The governor signed the legislation surrounded by lawmakers and advocates at Hunters View, a $450-million project in San Francisco that is redeveloping what was once crumbling public housing into new homes for 700 low- and middle-income families. Speakers at the ceremony hailed the package of bills as a sea change in how the state handles housing issues.