Sacramento, CA – The California Housing Consortium (CHC) applauds the Assembly Tax and Revenue Committee’s approval today of AB71 (Chiu) by a vote of 7-2. The Bring California Home Act, A CHC-Sponsored bill, is a critical investment in easing the state’s housing affordability crisis that is hammering every community across the state.

“Decisions at the state and local levels have worsened the affordability crisis Californians face today and saddled our state with the worst poverty rating in the nation. With their votes, members of the Assembly Tax and Revenue Committee took bold action to say backwards housing policies must be fixed now, and it is unjustifiable to give a $300 million per year tax break for second, vacation homes when families with children, college students, veterans and elderly Californians lack a single roof over their heads,” said California Housing Consortium Executive Director Ray Pearl. “Legislative action is especially crucial coming off the heels of Governor Brown releasing his revised state budget last week that did not include any new investment in affordable housing.”

AB 71 (Chiu), sponsored by CHC, would end a costly vacation home tax subsidy to provide affordable homes while protecting the mortgage interest deduction that is crucial for families to afford their first homes. This approach would generate thousands of new affordable homes without a General Fund cost, and would stimulate additional job creation through federal, local and private investment.

CHC is also calling on lawmakers to approve AB 72 (Santiago), which would strengthen the state’s ability to enforce laws that require local governments to achieve housing goals, and SB 2 (Atkins), which would enable thousands of affordable rental homes to be built through a $75 fee on real estate transaction documents, capped at $225 per transaction. Sales of homes and commercial properties would be exempted.