Sacramento, CA – The California Housing Consortium applauds the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee’s approval today of AB 71 (Chiu). The bill advanced through the committee after a vote of 5-2. The Bring California Home Act is crucial for California to invest in alleviating a housing affordability crisis that drives jobs out of state and has pushed California’s poverty ranking to the worst in the nation.

“For too long, California has maintained a backward housing policy where taxpayers spend $300 million annually to subsidize vacation homes for some Californians while funding for affordable homes has been slashed and one in three families struggles to afford any place to live,” said California Housing Consortium Executive Director Ray Pearl. “We are encouraged by the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee’s support for AB 71 to reverse declining investment in affordable homes so crucial to our stare’s future and our economic growth.”

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 home. 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 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.

California has seen a 69 percent overall decline in state and federal investment in production and preservation of affordable housing since the Great Recession in 2008. A new California Department of Housing and Community Development statewide housing assessment points out that insufficient state  investment in affordable homes impedes California’s economic growth.