This week in affordable housing news…:

State update:

• Another timely CalMatters story explores one of the major unresolved issues in this year’s legislative session: Why are key California affordable housing bills still getting bottled up? With negotiations between the Assembly and Senate continuing on several key bills in the Senate housing package, CalMatters highlights new concerns among members in both houses with adding strict new hiring requirements to affordable housing projects. The story focuses on one bill in particular, SB 679 (Kamlager), which would create a new regional authority for financing affordable housing in Los Angeles, where the story notes there is “about one construction worker for every three needed affordable housing units.” The bill currently includes language that would further limit the labor pool that could work on projects—slowing affordable construction in the midst of a statewide housing shortage. After a dozen bills to accelerate affordable housing have been sidelined over these same issues in the last two years, the Los Angeles Times editorial board recently said “it’s long past time [for state leaders] to strike a compromise.”

• A week after $1.75 billion in the state budget was directed at “unlocking” 7,200 units of affordable housing across the state, NBC Bay Area reports on the potential of several hundred affordable developments in the Bay Area that are “shovel ready, but still stuck in the pre-development stage.” If built, Enterprise says these sites alone would produce just under 19,000 units of affordable housing—providing homes for nearly 290,000 low-income residents over the course of the projects. NBC Bay Area reports that many of these units could struggle to receive budget funding, however, due to the high cost of construction in the Bay Area. “The governor recognizes this problem as well,” Treasurer Fiona Ma told NBC Bay Area, estimating that it will take “another two to four years” for the state to fully eliminate the state’s affordable housing funding backlog.

Federal update:

• The Senate voted this week to take up a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill that is narrower than affordable housing advocates had hoped for—but is nonetheless a positive sign of progress in gridlocked Washington, according to the New York Times. After Democrats proposed a much larger infrastructure package that included billions in funding for affordable housing, both parties agreed on a slimmer bill that will fund transportation projects, ports and waterways, and help states prepare for the droughts, wildfires, and flooding associated with climate change. The compromise, which is not yet in bill form, does include $65 billion for broadband, which could be helpful to support many affordable housing projects. Affordable housing funding and tax credit reforms could still be approved this year in a separate budget vote.

ICYMI – Top news stories:

Why past California homelessness policies failed and what we should be doing now
San Francisco Chronicle – Oped by Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf and Blue Shield of California CEO Paul Markovich
Decades of rising homelessness in the Bay Area and across California may lead many to conclude that it’s a problem we can’t solve. It’s a false conclusion. The causes of homelessness are manifold and often complex. But they are well known to us and well within our grasp to address. Where we have failed is achieving the scale necessary to solve the problem and deploying our resources in a more efficient and tightly coordinated way.

Editorial: The recall candidates’ plans on homelessness won’t lessen the problem and could get California sued
Los Angeles Times
California’s gubernatorial recall candidates have seized on the grim state of homelessness as a prime issue upon which to flay Gov. Gavin Newsom and appeal to voters frustrated by the proliferation of encampments. The most prominent recall candidates haven’t just criticized Newsom; they’ve laid out plans for addressing the homelessness crisis. Unfortunately, most of those plans call for sweeping, heavy-handed and potentially unconstitutional approaches to a complex problem that requires complex solutions.

California needs public health responses to behavioral health needs
CalMatters – Oped by Senator Sydney Kamlager and San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin
From San Francisco to Los Angeles, there is a crisis on California streets. Our state’s failure to adequately treat and house people with behavioral health needs has led to surges of overdose deaths, overflowing tents on our streets, and concerns about public safety. We believe our government can do better to promote public safety by prioritizing resources on expanding treatment and housing. As we emerge from the pandemic, now is the time for change.