Note from the Executive Director – December 2016
As 2016 draws to a close, I want to thank you each for your engagement with CHC over the past year and your ongoing commitment to make affordable homes available to all Californians. It’s hard to look ahead to 2017 without feeling somewhat uneasy. The investment markets are uncertain, the political situation in Washington is […]
CA Housing Organizations Send Letter to Legislature on the Need for a Comprehensive Plan to Ensure an Adequate Supply of Affordable Housing
Since the conclusion of the previous legislative session, an estimated 130,000 people were homeless on any given night. One in 10 California State University students started school without a place to call home. Housing costs were reported to be responsible for massive teacher shortages. 1.5 million of the state’s most vulnerable people and families went without necessities such as food or medicine to pay their rent.
Note from the Executive Director – November 2016
There is no doubt that emotions around last Tuesday’s election are still running high, and there are likely still difficult conversations coming over Thanksgiving dinner tables. As business people with a social justice mission, I urge the affordable housing community to look at the election with a dual lens: how the outcome of the election […]
Note from the Executive Director – October 2016
All of us who work in business and advocacy know that “partnership” is a goal often expressed but unfortunately rarely practiced. Much of the success affordable housing has had in Sacramento over the past five years can be attributed to strong collaboration between state and regional advocacy groups as well as a true partnership between […]
Video: CHC Policy Director Marina Wiant’s comments on CA poverty rate aired across the State
CHC Policy Director Marina Wiant’s comments explore the newest set of data from the Census Bureau’s supplementary poverty measure – which takes into account housing costs. When housing costs are accounted for, California’s poverty rate surges from 15 to 20% – the highest in the nation. Her comments were aired across the state from Los Angeles to Sacramento & Monterey to Fresno. Here is a snippet of her remarks shown on NBC 24 (Fresno)
Note from the Executive Director – September 2016
As CHC members well know, the legislative session that began with a roar on housing – a call for $1.3 billion to restore investment in crucial affordable home programs – ended with a whimper a short time later. Legislators failed to take up Governor Jerry Brown’s “by-right” proposal in bill form, allowing the $400 million […]
Legislature Adjourns with Little Action on Tackling CA Housing Affordability Crisis
When 2016 began, we had high hopes this would be the year state leaders would finally make headway on a housing affordability crisis. They called the shortfall of affordable homes “one of the key threats to our economy,” a driver of the state’s “a high homeless population,” a “costly” problem for local governments, and a […]
CHC and Others Ask Leadership to Release $400 Million in Housing Funds
CHC joined other affordable housing advocates in a letter calling on Brown and legislative leaders to approve the $400 million in spending and leave the rest of the debate around streamlining development approval processes for another day. “Unfortunately, the decision to link that $400 million to enactment of a controversial proposal to streamline market-rate housing […]
Note from the Executive Director – August 2016
Californians struggling to pay the rent have effectively been taken hostage by politics in Sacramento. In the final two weeks of the two-year legislative session, adoption of Governor Brown’s “by right” proposal appears increasingly unlikely. News reports indicate that opponents of Brown’s plan have walked away from negotiations. But the takeaway from this year shouldn’t […]
Note from the Executive Director – June 2016
California legislators will go on summer break next week, leaving unfinished business behind as they return to their districts July 1-August 1. After passing a $122.5 billion budget plan June 15, several lawmakers boasted on Twitter that their votes had helped secure $400 million for investment in affordable homes. But a long road stands between […]