The California Housing Consortium and our members have supported the passage of groundbreaking legislation over the last several years that has unlocked new sites for affordable housing, streamlined approvals, and drawn the support of a diverse, growing coalition committed to tackling California’s housing and homelessness challenges.
In spite of our progress, this crisis isn’t solved yet. California continues to face a gap of more than one million homes affordable to lower-income households — and the state’s homeless population is only rising, with 170,000 people now living on the streets. CHC remains committed to working this session with affordable housing champions in the Legislature and Administration to ensure every Californian — from seniors and veterans to teachers, firefighters, and many other hard-working families — has access to a safe, affordable place to call home.
With that goal in mind, CHC and our affordable housing partners shared a joint letter last spring with Governor Newsom highlighting $6.9 billion in investments that can be made in this year’s state budget to preserve existing affordable housing, prevent more Californians from falling into homelessness, and bolster the state’s successful affordable housing production programs.
We are also sponsoring and supporting a number of policy proposals that will apply lessons learned in communities around the state to accelerate approvals and expand funding opportunities for affordable housing. Details on this legislation is below.
Budget proposals:
- $4 billion to unlock and accelerate production of 35,275 new affordable homes. CHC and our partners propose doubling the current state Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program (LIHTC) with an additional $500 million beyond what was allocated in the 2022-2023 state budget. We also urge appropriating $2 billion to the Multifamily Housing Program (MHP) and $1.5 billion to the California Housing Accelerator Program (CHAP) and that HCD be given the authority, with DOF approval, to transfer amounts between these two programs in line with demand. Using a portion of MHP funds for capitalized operating subsidies or in conjunction with augmented HHAP allocations for operating subsidies would allow a significant portion of these funds to provide housing for extremely and acutely low-income households, where the greatest need currently exists.
- $1 billion in additional funding for the Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention Program (HHAP) in 2023-2024 for a total of $23 billion in ongoing funding for future years, allowing 94,000 households to exit homelessness. This funding will provide local jurisdictions and Continuums of Care (CoCs) with adequate resources to rehouse about 20,000 households experiencing homelessness in year one, increasing to rehousing or preventing homelessness for 94,000 households annually by year five.
- $1 billion to prevent displacement and homelessness for low-income households and preserve new affordable homes, to include:
- $500 million for the Community Anti-Displacement and Preservation Program (CAPP): SB 225 (Caballero) includes proposals to spur the preservation of 3,600 homes, preserving low-income housing for 39,600 households over the next 55 years.
- $500 million for a targeted rental subsidy program: SB 37 (Caballero) would create a grant program that could prevent and end homelessness and displacement for over 13,500 older adults and people with disabilities each year, over four years.
- $500 million for affordable homeownership production through the CalHome Program to provide homeownership opportunities to 5,000 low-income Californians. CalHome is the only state homeownership program with funding dedicated to the construction of new owner-occupied homes for low-income families. CalHome supports programs prioritizing homeownership in various forms for low-income families so they can build equity, increase community stability, and gain the multi-generational benefits of owning a home.
- $200 million to support the affordable housing needs of farmworker and tribal communities. This allocation should include $100 million for farmworker housing development through the Joe Serna Farmworker Housing Grant Program.
- $100 million a year for 2 years for resources to help tenants utilize federal Housing Choice Vouchers through landlord recruitment, services, and resources to connect landlords and tenants. These programs have succeeded around the country in increasing voucher utilization and access for voucher holders.
CHC is advocating for critical pieces of legislation this year:
The Newsom Administration has set a goal of producing one million units of housing affordable to lower-income households by 2030, and local governments across the state have adopted detailed housing plans outlining where and what types of homes they intend to build. Still, even with overwhelming support from elected officials, affordable housing projects continue to face opposition and deliberate delays that drive up costs, undermine funding, and prevent affordable housing from being built. To help every community stay on track to achieving their housing goals, CHC is sponsoring a package of legislation this year that will further accelerate local approvals, remove lingering barriers to affordable development, and help lower-income Californians access the safe, affordable homes they need.
SB 440 (Skinner) Regional Housing Finance Authorities which will empower local governments to join forces to create regional housing finance agencies to address the unique affordable housing needs in their communities.
SB 937 (Wiener) Fee Deferral & Entitlement Extension which will seek to minimize the impact of market fluctuations and high interest rates on housing production by delaying local government development fees and providing additional time after a project has been entitled.
AB 1789 (Quirk-Silva) Critical Rehabilitative Resources for Affordable Housing which will expand access in HCD’s Portfolio Reinvestment Program (PRP) to challenged developments in need of rehabilitation.
AB 2430 (Alvarez) Eliminating Duplicative Local Monitoring Fees which will prohibit a local government from charging a monitoring fee on units built using State Density Bonus Law that are already monitored by a state agency