The Legislature and the Governor reached agreement late Sunday on the Budget Act of 2022, which will be encompassed in SB 154, which passed the Legislature earlier this month, SB/AB 178 Budget Bill Jr, which amends SB 154, and SB/AB 180 Budget Bill Jr, which amends the 2021-22 budget to make current year allocations. We expect the Budget Bill Jrs to be passed by the end of session on Thursday.

The 2022-23 budget includes total spending of just over $300 billion, of which 234.4 billion is from the General Fund. The budget includes total reserves of $37.2 billion in 2022-23, including $3.5 billion in the regular operating reserve.

The final package funds several key elements of the Administration’s affordable housing budget, including:

• $500 million for the 2023 calendar year in state low income housing tax credits
• $425 million over two years for the Infill Infrastructure Grant Program
• $410 million over two years for Adaptive Reuse
• $150 million over two years for the Portfolio Reinvestment Program
• $100 million over two years for mobile homes and manufactured housing
• $100 million over two years for affordable housing on state excess sites

The Legislature also added additional affordable housing funding, including:

• $325 million over two years for the Multifamily Housing Program
• $350 million for the CalHOME program
• $250 million for the Housing Accelerator Program
• $100 million over two years to continue the Veterans Housing and Homelessness Prevention Program
• $50 million for the Joe Serna Jr. Farmworker Housing Program

The budget also includes $1 billion for the Homeless Housing, Accountability, and Prevention Program (HHAPP), $30 million in legal aid funding for eviction protection, and $500 million for a new “California Dream for All” program—that will assist approximately 4,000 first-time homebuyers.

Statement from CHC’s Ray Pearl:

“This year’s final budget is a mixed bag for affordable housing. With California facing a shortage of more than one million affordable homes, the budget includes roughly $2 billion for some of the key programs CHC members are relying on to help close these gaps, including the Housing Accelerator, Infill Infrastructure Grant Program, and the Low Income Housing Tax Credit. But with the state enjoying a surplus of almost $100 billion, it’s fair to say these investments do not meet the moment. The scale of the state’s housing and homelessness crises, the extreme urgency of these challenges, or the growing clamor for action to address them that we see in every community demands we do more.

“Budgets are about choices and values. Affordable housing advocates have been working hard to remind the Legislature and Governor that they are not yet doing everything they can and should be doing to increase access to affordable housing. This year’s final budget doesn’t include all of the support our state needs, but I know affordable housing providers, as they always do, will stretch these resources as far as we can to build safe, affordable homes for the many lower-income families and workers who need them. In the meantime, we will not stop reminding our leaders in Sacramento that if they truly want to solve the state’s housing crisis, next year they are going to have to do more.”