It’s a quiet time in Sacramento, with the Legislature out on recess, but that will change quickly when members return on August 12 for the last five weeks of the session.

We’ve been spending the month preparing for the final legislative stretch, when we hope to see all five of CHC’s sponsored bills move through the Senate and earn the governor’s signature—including AB 10 (Chiu, Bonta, Maienschein, Reyes, Wicks), AB 1483 (Grayson), AB 1484 (Grayson), AB 1743 (Bloom), and AB 1763 (Chiu).

Thanks to the authors’ strong leadership, our CHC-sponsored affordable housing package made it off the Assembly floor in May without a single no vote. All five bills advanced through Senate policy committees this summer—with only one no vote. And now CHC and our partners are urging the full Senate to advance this legislation—making permanent the expansion of the low-income housing tax credit in this year’s budget, reducing barriers to building 100% affordable developments, and helping affordable developers build more cost effectively. More information about all five bills can be found on CHC’s Legislative Priorities page.

The summer recess has also given us an opportunity to work with CHC members on another important policy development: new updates to TCAC regulations being considered by the Treasurer’s Office, including changes to the state tax credit program. Treasurer Ma spoke eloquently at our CHC Policy Forum this spring about her commitment to affordable housing—and urged us all to “come out of our corners” to get more affordable housing built. Since then the Treasurer’s Office has kicked off a statewide listening tour, where Treasurer Ma and her staff have presented on California’s successful tax credit programs and heard ideas for improving the existing tiebreaker system.

We had opportunity to sit down with Treasurer Ma in late July, together with partners including NPH, SCANPH, the San Diego Housing Federation, and CCRH. Two of our major take-aways:

• The Treasurer recognizes how vital the tax credit program is for affordable housing development, but she is also unsatisfied with the status quo, as rising development costs limit the program’s impact. She is committed to making tax credits work better—and go further—to increase production, and she believes CHC will have an important role to play.
• The Treasurer’s Office plans to implement some changes to the program as soon as January of 2020—but more comprehensive changes are likely to be implemented in January 2021.

CHC has been digging into this issue for more than a year through our tax credit tiebreaker working group, chaired by LINC Housing’s Becky Clark and Meta Housing’s Kasey Burke, and we will stay engaged with the Treasurer’s office in the months ahead. Please stay tuned for more updates and recommendations as these conversations continue.

Sincerely,

Ray Pearl
CHC Executive Director