This week in affordable housing news…:

State update:

• A proposal to raise money for affordable housing in the City of Los Angeles through a new tax on property sales over $5 million could be on its way to the November 2022 ballot. The Los Angeles Times reports that a coalition of housing advocates, labor unions and progressive activist groups filed paperwork this week for a ballot measure that would fund permanent housing for homeless people and those at risk of ending up on the street. The measure would levy a 4% tax on property sales above $5 million that would rise to 5.5% on transactions above $10 million. The coalition said the tax would have applied to about 3% of all property sales in the city from March 2019 to March 2020, generating about $800 million. “This is really about millionaires and billionaires paying their fair share to have a transformative approach to solving our housing crisis,” said Laura Raymond, director of the Alliance for Community Transit-Los Angeles, or ACT-LA, and a leader of the ballot measure coalition.

• A new study from the Terner Center provides an in-depth analysis of efforts across multiple states to convert hotels and motels into affordable housing—most notably, in California’s case, through Project Homekey, which created more than 6,000 units in 94 separate properties in 2020 at an average cost, according to early assessments, of under $148,000 per unit. Terner comes to the conclusion that while hotel/motel conversions may seem to offer a way to “quickly and cost-effectively” expand the supply of housing for vulnerable groups, they often lack sufficient funds to support long-term operations and services. After accounting for rehabilitation costs, Terner finds total expenditures to update and maintain conversion properties are almost as high as in new affordable buildings. Read the full Terner study here.

• Under the leadership of State Treasurer Fiona Ma, California’s four housing agencies convened a task force that has developed universal spreadsheets to be used in 2022 CDLAC applications for bonds, credits, and/or soft debt. The spreadsheets incorporate new features and new mechanics to streamline application preparation and review. A series of upcoming trainings are available for CHC members to learn from task force members how the new tools work and how to get the most out of their new features. Three trainings are coming up in early January: The National Housing & Rehabilitation Association is co-hosting a training event on Wednesday January 5 in Costa Mesa. The California Council for Affordable Housing is co-hosting a training on Thursday January 6 in Sacramento. The California Housing Partnership is also planning an online training during the week of January 10, but specifics have not yet been finalized. For more information, please contact Marina Wiant, mwiant@calhsng.org.

ICYMI – Top news stories:

California prioritizes housing projects with PAB allocation
Bond Buyer
As demand for private activity bonds in the state has become competitive in recent years, the board of the California Debt Limit Allocation Committee has had to make some tough choices. It has reserved the bulk of the PAB capacity to help fund affordable housing projects. “Our focus is to put more of the resources to extremely low income and very low income units,” said California State Treasurer Fiona Ma, one of three voting committee members, along with State Controller Betty Yee and Finance Director Keely Bosler for Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration. “That is something we voted on as a board.” Since Ma took office in January 2019, only $600 million of $4.2 billion in private activity bonds issued have been for non-housing projects, she said.

Evictions on the rise months after federal moratorium ends
Associated Press
Soon after losing his trucking job amid the pandemic, Freddie Davis got another blow: His landlord in Miami was almost doubling the rent on his Miami apartment. Davis girded for what he feared would come next. In September he was evicted—just over a month after a federal eviction moratorium ended. He’s now languishing in a hotel, aided by a nonprofit that helps homeless people. The 51-year-old desperately wants to find a new apartment. But it’s proving impossible on his $1,000-a-month disability check. The federal ban, along with a mix of state and federal moratoriums, is credited with keeping Davis and millions of others in their homes during the pandemic and preventing the spread of the coronavirus. There was a brief lull in evictions filings after the ban ended. But housing advocates say they’re on the rise in many parts of the country.

Mayor Breed wants to streamline housing production, but will S.F. supervisors approve it?
San Francisco Chronicle
For the third time in as many years, Mayor London Breed will bring forward a charter amendment to streamline housing production, allowing many code-compliant developments to bypass the city’s politically charged and time-consuming discretionary review process. The charter amendment, which will need six votes at the Board of Supervisors in order to qualify for the June 2022 ballot, would apply to projects of more than 25 units. It would require that market-rate developers build 15% more affordable units than is otherwise required by the city. The streamlining could shave a year or two off the city’s approval process, which typically takes two years and often longer, Breed said. But if history is any indication, getting six out of 11 members of the Board of Supervisors to support the charter amendment could be an uphill slog.