Sacramento, CA – The California Housing Consortium applauds the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee’s approval today of SB 2 (Atkins), a measure that is vital to chipping away at California’s devastating housing shortage.
“California is in the throes of our worst housing crisis since World War II due to a shameful lack of investment in affordable homes. SB 2 protects general funds while creating safe and affordable neighborhoods, creating jobs and improving our economy,” said California Housing Consortium Executive Director Ray Pearl. “We are hopeful that this step forward for SB 2 signals a broad renewed commitment by state leaders to invest in affordable home construction for families, children, seniors, veterans and vulnerable residents.”
SB 2 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.
CHC is also calling on lawmakers to approve AB 71 (Chiu), which 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. These common-sense measures do not dip into the General Fund and would generate additional federal, local and private investment.
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 finds that California families are facing a harder time finding a place to live than at any point in our history and homeownership rates in California are at their lowest since the 1940s.
