PMIB UPDATE: Some Positive Signs

This past Wednesday's PMIB hearing was a much better experience than the meeting a month earlier.  The state is planning a $4 billion bond issuance next week and depending on the market's response, another issuance of approximately $1.5 billion in late April.  At the PMIB meeting, the board approved staff's recommendation to make available $500 million of the $4 billion for "high priority projects" as to be recommended by the Department of Finance (DOF).  The PMIB board will consider DOF's recommendations at a special meeting scheduled for Friday, April 3.  

DOF will be relying on the information that CHC together with other statewide housing organizations recently collected and provided to the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD).  Based upon this compilation, HCD requires approximately $320 million to meet project funding needs for the three-month period of March-May 2009 and an additional $250 million for the three-month period of June-August 2009.  There is a meeting at DOF this coming Monday, March 23 in Sacramento.  The Deputy Director of DOF will be meeting with a delegation of affordable housing developers to discuss these funding priorities for release of bond proceeds.  Affordable housing will have plenty of competition for these funds as there are funding needs other than for affordable housing from around the state.  We will be at this meeting and report back to you as to how the discussion might impact the PMIB board's decision on April 3.  

Thank you, as always, for the time and effort you have put into getting us data on your projects and for the many letters you've sent to members of the PMIB and your local legislators.  Although time consuming, all of these combined efforts make a critical difference in the decision-making process.  We'll keep you posted.