With the house of origin deadline approaching next week, the biggest affordable housing news is that all five of CHC’s sponsored bills have advanced out of the Assembly—without a single no vote! The CHC bill package includes legislation to expand the state low-income housing tax credit program (AB 10, Chiu, Bonta, Maienschein, Reyes, Wicks), create local and statewide databases of local fees (AB 1483 and AB 1484, Grayson), exempt affordable developments from some of these local levies (AB 1743, Bloom), and reduce barriers to developing 100% affordable units near transit (AB 1763, Chiu).
Several new reports this week demonstrate how urgent these solutions are. According to the annual report from the California Housing Partnership and the Southern California Association of Nonprofit Housing, Los Angeles alone needs 516,946 affordable homes to meet demand. In the Bay Area, Curbed reports that 4,000 people applied for new development with 28 affordable units in Oakland—where the ratio of home seekers to available units has climbed to 142-to-1. “Twenty-eight units is a drop in the bucket compared to the need right now,” said Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf.
Can California crack its housing nut? Dan Walters tries to answer that question this week, citing a recent Terner Center for Housing Innovation study that charts a path forward—emphasizing the critical need for legislative solutions that “expand access to affordable units.”
STATE HOUSING POLICIES
California’s big housing bill is dead for the year. Here’s what’s left
San Francisco Chronicle
Even as he blocked a major legislative push to spur more apartment construction around public transit and in wealthy suburbs, state Sen. Anthony Portantino acknowledged the need to address a shortage of housing in California. “It doesn’t mean we’re not going to focus on solving the housing crisis,” the Democrat from La Cañada Flintridge (Los Angeles County) said after the committee he chairs shelved San Francisco Democratic Sen. Scott Wiener’s contentious bill, SB50, until next year. “It just means that this isn’t the right fix at this time to do that.” The right fix remains as elusive as ever. With Wiener’s bill on hold, advocates of ramping up housing production — including Gov. Gavin Newsom, who spoke on the campaign trail of building 3.5 million new homes over the next seven years — have lost their primary legislative vehicle this session.
Why California Killed Its ‘Upzoning’ Bill. Again
New York Magazine
California famously has a housing supply and affordability crisis underway, and the preeminent idea for dealing with it has been to undercut local zoning regulations that restrict the quantity, type and location of housing construction. Newly elected Governor Gavin Newsom initially proposed withholding state transportation funds from jurisdictions that get in the way of new housing goals, but soon back downed (for the time being, anyway). A more ambitious state bill (often described as “upzoning” legislation because it encourages more high-rise housing near transit centers) aimed at the twin challenges of housing supply and climate change was blocked by a coalition of opponents last year.
Supporters unite in last-chance effort to save California’s most controversial housing bill
Mercury News
In a last-ditch attempt to save the year’s most controversial housing measure, supporters of a stalled bill to overhaul California’s zoning rules are pressuring the state Senate leader to resurrect the legislation. After the Appropriations Committee last week killed Senate Bill 50 for the year, the measure’s backers have come out in force, calling for the decision to be reversed. Dozens of affordable housing developers and activists, labor groups and other community organizations have sent letters to Senate leaders, urging them to save the bill that would bring taller, denser apartment buildings to California neighborhoods. Mayors of major cities across the state, including Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf and San Francisco Mayor London Breed, have rushed to the bill’s defense.
Opinion: Can California crack its housing nut?
CALmatters
The state Department of Finance reported this month that California, which has a stubborn and growing shortage of housing, added just 77,000 houses, apartments and condos in 2018. Actually, private and public housing developers drew permits for well over 100,000 units, and about that many were constructed. But a whopping 23,700 existing homes were burned or demolished, more than half of them in just one community, Paradise, which was virtually destroyed by wildfire. With fire losses, the net addition was lower than the 85,297 recorded in 2017, which was lower than the 89,457 in 2016—a situation that Gov. Gavin Newsom labeled as “deplorable” when he introduced a revised state budget this month. “The underproduction of supply continues to define the housing crisis the state is currently facing,” the revised budget declares.
HOUSING CRISIS
Report: LA needs 516,946 affordable homes to meet demand
Curbed
Los Angeles’s affordable housing crisis is well documented, but an annual report from the California Housing Partnership and the Southern California Association of Nonprofit Housing shines a harsh light on the severity of the matter. According to the report, which is released annually, LA County would need to add more than a half-million units of affordable housing—516,946, to be exact—to meet existing demand from low-income renters. As high as that number may be, it’s actually down somewhat since last year, when the report’s authors identified a countywide shortfall of 568,255 affordable homes. Sadly, the change doesn’t necessarily reflect new construction.
Sacramento Needs 63,000 New Rental Units, Housing Nonprofit Says
Capital Public Radio
Sacramento County needs 63,00 new apartments and homes to meet the demand of renters, according to a new report by the California Housing Partnership. The nonprofit, which helps government and housing agencies, says this number is an increase over last year, and that stagnant supply has caused the average rent for a two-bedroom to increase to $1,445, up $95 a month compared to two years ago. Lynne Harron, pastor at New Creation Church, which is a member of the Partnership, says some landlords evict tenants who complain about living conditions, then bring in tenants who pay more without complaint.
4,000 people applied for 28 affordable homes in Oakland
Curbed
Oakland officially opened a new affordable housing development in the Redwood Heights neighborhood last week, dubbed Redwood Hill Townhomes. The development offered 28 units to Oakland renters at prices drastically below market rates. And according to Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, the city processed 4,000 applicants for those units. While pleased to see the completion of the decades-in-the-making project, Schaaf, who called the new housing “inspiring,” commented on Twitter about the impossible 142-plus-to-one ratio of home seekers to available units. “It is shocking, disheartening, and absolutely troubling to know that so many residents applied for so few spots,” Schaaf told Curbed SF. “Twenty-eight units is a drop in the bucket compared to the need right now,” she added.
TENEANT PROTECTION
A 102-year-old woman is being evicted after nearly 30 years. It’s legal in L.A. County
Los Angeles Times
A 102-year-old woman is being evicted from her longtime residence in unincorporated Ladera Heights so the landlord’s daughter can move in instead, according to an eviction notice the woman received. Thelma Smith was given notice on March 8 that she must vacate the single-family home where she has resided for nearly 30 years. Her landlords said they were ending Smith’s month-to-month lease because their daughter is graduating from law school. “The dwelling is needed as her principal place of residence,” the notice said. They gave the centenarian three months to get out. Under Los Angeles’ Rent Stabilization Ordinance, a landlord can legally evict a tenant to accommodate a relative’s housing needs.
LOCAL HOUSING INITIATIVES
Affordable Housing Advocates Launch Campaign for $900 Million Bond Measure
Times of San Diego
Advocates of affordable housing have begun a campaign for a $900 million city bond issue to fund construction of 7,500 units for veterans, elderly and families with children. San Diego City Councilmember Chris Ward joined members of the nonprofit San Diego Housing Federation on Tuesday to announce the campaign to place the measure on the November 2020 general election ballot. “Our current crisis demands bold action to provide the housing we need for all San Diegans,” said Ward. “It’s time for our city to come together in support of a ballot measure that will provide housing that directly addresses the needs of homeless San Diegans and ensures working San Diegans can afford to live throughout the city.”
AFFORDABLE HOUSING CONSTRUCTION
Wealthy Bay Area suburb gets housing religion: It’s allowing 11 affordable units
San Francisco Chronicle
All the town leaders in Danville and its state assemblywoman gathered the other day to eat cake and celebrate something that rarely happens in the wealthy Contra Costa County suburb: There’s an apartment building going up, one that will include units for lower-income tenants. Even the builder was surprised that Danville was receptive to the project. When Bruce Dorfman told his partner at Trammell Crow Residential that there was an opportunity to build in Danville, “he immediately started laughing. Because Danville was not a place, heretofore, that was known for being open to a multifamily project.”
Developer in San Lorenzo says unions holding up critical housing project
San Francisco Chronicle
Developer Terry Demmon knew he would face challenges in building 163 apartments on a 5-acre parcel in the heart of San Lorenzo, an unincorporated town of sycamore trees, cul-de-sacs and midcentury ranch homes 12 miles south of downtown Oakland. After all, for decades the town of 23,000 has been on the losing end of commercial real estate transactions. And some residents are afraid it’s happening again, stifling the town’s growth. The intersection where Demmon is hoping to build — 5 acres of cracked asphalt and weedy lots — has been vacant since a Mervyn’s closed in 1995. There’s also an empty liquor store. To the west, across Hesperian Boulevard, sits San Lorenzo’s most noteworthy structure, a 1947 Art Deco theater that has been shuttered for 37 years.
HOUSING MARKET
More Bay Area homes for sale, but still out of reach for most
Mercury News
Good news for Bay Area home buyers — houses are staying on the market longer, and more houses have ‘for sale’ signs hanging on their front lawn. Bad news for Bay Area home buyers — the increased choices in the market are likely caused by high prices, fewer offers and your exhaustion. The number of homes for sale in the first three months of the year in the San Jose metro area rose 55 percent from the same time last year, the highest jump in the nation, according to a recent study by Trulia. In Oakland and San Francisco, housing inventory grew 28 percent from the first three months of last year. “Definitely a big jump in inventory,” said Trulia economist Felipe Chacon. “Demand is ebbing a little bit.” In the midst of a housing shortage and rising prices, the Bay Area market has flattened out, but not nearly enough to call it a buyer’s paradise.
HOMELESSNESS
California governor forms group for homelessness solutions
Associated Press
Gov. Gavin Newsom called growing homelessness in California a national disgrace as he announced Tuesday that he is launching a task force to find solutions amid a housing crisis in the most populous state. The Democratic governor said the state has lacked a strategy to curb homelessness but argued that answers will come from the local level. He said the group will work with cities and counties to develop regional plans for addressing the issue. Newsom made the announcement in Oakland, where county officials said the number of homeless people rose 43 percent over the last two years. Recent data from other counties has shown large increases, too. “These are jaw-dropping numbers,” Newsom told reporters at the Henry Robinson Multi-Service Center, which provides transitional housing for people facing homelessness.
HUD moves to allow discrimination against homeless transgender people
Politico
The Department of Housing and Urban Development is moving to roll back protections for homeless transgender people by enabling HUD-funded providers of shelters to consider a person’s sex or gender identification in determining whether they can be admitted. The proposal, included in the department’s spring rule list out Wednesday, contradicts a pledge that HUD Secretary Ben Carson made to lawmakers just yesterday. It would turn back requirements under an Obama-era rule that operators of single-sex shelters who receive HUD funding “provide equal access to programs, benefits, services, and accommodations in accordance with an individual’s gender identity.”