California Housing Consortium

SB 1220 Passes Out of Senate Policy Committees!

nmartin — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 20:20:59 +0000

Today SB 1220 passed out of the Senate Governance and Finance Committee with a vote of 5-2. The bill will next be heard in the Senate Appropriations Committee at the end of May.

Thank you to all of our supporters and to Senator DeSaulnier and his staff!

SB 1220 Passes Out of Senate Transportation & Housing

nmartin — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 20:18:13 +0000

SB 1220 passed out of the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee April 24th, 2012 with a vote of 6-2. The bill will be heard tomorrow in the Senate Governance and Finance Committee at 9:30am.

Thank you to our many members who traveled to Sacramento to testify in support of this landmark legislation!

CHC Newsletter: March 2012

nmartin — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 15:58:36 +0000

Inside this issue: -CHC Welcomes Our New Policy Director -Save The Date for our 2012 Policy Forum & Housing Hall of Fame Awards -CHC Co-Sponsors SB 1220

HOMeS Act Introduced

nmartin — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 23:17:41 +0000

Permanent Source of Funding for Affordable Housing Bill Introduced Today

Today, Senator Mark DeSaulnier and President pro Tem of the Senate Darrell Steinberg, along with principal co-author Assemblymember Toni Atkins, introduced the Housing Opportunity and Market Stabilization (HOMeS) Act (SB 1220) with the goal of creating a permanent funding source for affordable homes in California. SB 1220 is co-sponsored by the California Housing Consortium and Housing California.

“In this difficult state fiscal environment, we thank Senator DeSaulnier for introducing this important bill that begins to address the perfect storm impacting funding for affordable housing in California,” said Ray Pearl, executive director of the California Housing Consortium. “This bill goes a long way towards reestablishing an important public-private partnership.”

The HOMeS Act will support the development, acquisition, rehabilitation, and preservation of affordable homes for Californians on fixed incomes and modest budgets, including emergency shelters, transitional and permanent rental housing, foreclosure mitigation, and homeownership opportunities. The bill would generate an average of $700 million per year, through a $75 document recording fee on real estate transactions, to create housing affordable to hardworking families, put construction workers back on the job, and boost California’s economy by creating millions of dollars in new economic activity

Click here to read Senator DeSaulnier’s Press Release

Click here to read the SB 1220 Fact Sheet

CHC Supports AB 1585

nmartin — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 20:18:28 +0000

Policy Position

AB 1585 was introduced last week by Speaker Perez and Assemblymembers Atkins, Dickinson, Hill, Mitchell, Perea and Torres.

AB 1585 is an urgency bill running parallel to SB 654 (Steinberg). This bill clarifies that existing unencumbered Low and Moderate Income Housing Fund balances will transfer to the successor housing agencies of dissolved redevelopment agencies to be retained for affordable housing as they were intended.

Click here for the complete bill text.

Yesterday, the CHC Board of Directors voted to support AB 1585. Please show support by reaching out to your Assemblymembers today!

CHC Newsletter: February 2012

nmartin — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:07:19 +0000

Inside this issue: -CA Without Redevelopment Welcome 2012 Board -CHC Advocacy Days -CHC Policy Forum & Hall of Fame Awards

Update on SB 654

nmartin — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:40:10 +0000

UPDATE (1/31):

Republicans today offered a set of technical amendments to SB 654. After the amendments were refused, the bill with the urgency clause died on a 24-1 vote with all Republicans abstaining except for one. Senator Steinberg then stripped the urgency clause from the bill and it passed on a 34-1 vote. This now moves to the Assembly without the urgency clause. Senator Steinberg referenced that this would now become part of the budget process.

We will continue to keep you posted on any developments.

CHC Supports SB 654

nmartin — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 16:37:45 +0000

The California Housing Consortium Board of Directors voted today to support SB 654, authored by Senator Steinberg, which seeks to protect the crucial existing housing funds of dissolving redevelopment agencies.

CHC’s support letter can be seen here.

California Supreme Court: NO to Redevelopment

nmartin — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 22:41:28 +0000

In a widely-anticipated decision, the California Supreme Court, in a ruling that included a partial dissent from Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye over ABX1 27, today ended redevelopment in California and struck a significant blow to affordable housing. The Supreme Court majority found that the “rda elimination bill,” ABX1 26, is constitutional but the “reconstitute rda bill,” ABX1 27 is unconstitutional.

The net effect of this decision is the worst case for affordable housing and job creation. As the Chief Justice wrote in her dissent, “…the Legislature’s attempt to balance the benefits of continued redevelopment with the need to fund vital local government services has apparently failed with little or no alternative to continued redevelopment available.”

California Housing Consortium’s Executive Director, Ray Pearl, states that “today’s ruling by the Supreme Court is an unfortunate outcome that will have far-reaching impacts on those in our society who need help the most. We urge the Legislature and the Governor to follow the intent of the original legislation and help find a solution to continuing to fund affordable housing in California. The need is as critical as ever and action is needed now.”

The full decision can be read here.

LIHTC Support Letter to Super Committee

nmartin — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 18:34:30 +0000

Over 45 organizations signed onto CHC’s Low Income Housing Tax Credit support letter sent to the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction on November 2. Click here to see the letter.