LOS ANGELES — In honor of National Homeownership Month, this week’s “In Focus SoCal” looks into some of the latest housing initiatives and programs helping California residents achieve their goals of securing accessible housing and potentially owning their own home.

Host Tanya McRae talked to state Sen. Nancy Skinner, who represents California’s 9th Senate District, about legislative efforts aimed at increasing housing in the state. She explained SB 1211, which she authored.

“Twenty-five percent of all new housing built in California each year are ADUs," she said. "Now people mostly think about them as something on a single family property. However, we have many multifamily properties — we’re talking apartment complexes, condo complexes — that have lots of extra room, and they could add some ADUs. Which would really help us in terms of our housing crisis. It’s already legal for apartment owners to add ADUs. But somehow or another, there was a funny cap that they could only add to detached ADUs, regardless of the size of the property. My bill would increase that from two units to eight units, without having to go through a whole lot of extra permitting and planning,” she said.

We feature a story about Denise Wilhite-Thomas, a housing advocate and founder of Operation Reach, who has been recognized with multiple congressional awards for her work on behalf of California homeowners struggling to save their homes from foreclosure.

McRae also spoke with Lynelle Bevels, Assistant Vice President and Community Lending Manager for Umpqua Bank, about how the bank is helping prospective homeowners.

“We specifically focus in and around the diverse growth segments, which include African American, Hispanic, Asian and low-to-moderate-income individuals. And going out to the communities, talking about financial literacy, homeownership. We’re also talking to small businesses because sometimes small business success can lead to homeownership success, or vice versa. Home ownership success can lead to you being able to fund your minority small business,” said Bevels.

Watch the show every Saturday at 11 a.m. and Sunday at 9 a.m., and send us your thoughts to InFocusSoCal@charter.com.