The California Housing Consortium and our members have supported the passage of groundbreaking legislation over the last several years that has unlocked new sites for affordable housing, streamlined approvals, and drawn the support of a diverse, growing coalition committed to tackling California’s housing and homelessness challenges.
In spite of our progress, this crisis isn’t solved yet. California continues to face a gap of more than one million homes affordable to lower-income households — and the state’s homeless population is only rising, with 170,000 people now living on the streets. CHC remains committed to working this session with affordable housing champions in the Legislature and Administration to ensure every Californian — from seniors and veterans to teachers, firefighters, and many other hard-working families — has access to a safe, affordable place to call home.
CHC focuses on three areas to achieve our goals:
- Legislation
- Budget
- Regulatory Work
2025 Priority Legislation
CHC is working on a legislative package focused on increasing funding for affordable housing, removing lingering barriers to affordable housing development, empowering local governments to come together to address their communities’ housing needs, and helping lower-income Californians access safe and affordable housing in communities across the state.
Our early 2025 legislation priorities include:
Affordable Housing Bond Act of 2026: Authorizes $10 billion in funds through a statewide housing bond to support critical affordable housing programs.
Early HCD Loan Repayment: Authorizes the early pay-off of HCD loans to unlock funding that could be redeployed for affordable housing purposes by making it possible for equity to be extracted from projects.
Budget Proposals
CHC’s 2025 budget priorities:
$1 billion for the State Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) Program: The State LIHTC program provides critical gap funding so that California can fully utilize federal LIHTC. Over the first four years, the annual commitment of “enhanced” state credits has allowed developers to create an additional 25,000 affordable homes and allowed California to draw down $5.3 billion in federal LIHTC resources.
$400 million for the Multifamily Housing Program (MHP): MHP is the state’s primary subsidy program for new construction of affordable housing and the preservation of existing affordable housing. The last two rounds of MHP funded over 3,100 new affordable homes.
$1 billion in funding for the Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention Program (HHAP): HHAP provides funding for local homelessness response. It has served over 200,000 Californians through the first three rounds and enabled 40,000 people to exit homelessness since 2023.
400 million for affordable homeownership production through the CalHome Program to provide homeownership opportunities to low-income Californians: CalHome is the only state homeownership program with funding dedicated to the construction of new owner-occupied homes for low-income families. CalHome supports programs prioritizing homeownership in various forms for low-income families so they can build equity, increase community stability, and gain the multi-generational benefits of owning a home.
$100 million to Joe Serna, Jr. Farmworker Housing Grant Program: This grant program helps fund new construction, rehabilitation, and acquisition of owner-occupied and rental multifamily and single-family housing for agricultural workers.
Regulatory Work
CHC’s mission is critical for advancing affordable housing in California. Our broad, diverse membership has the expertise and knowledge on how to make the affordable housing system work for all stakeholders. We are on the frontlines of the policy debate producing real transformational change to advance the production and preservation of affordable housing"