This week in affordable housing news…:

State update:

• The Legislature voted to advance two high-profile zoning bills from last year’s Senate housing package—SB 9 (Atkins) and SB 10 (Wiener)—that stalled in 2020 at the end of the COVID-shortened session. Both bills were approved by the Assembly and have now returned to the Senate on concurrence. Several affordable housing bills also moved out of the Assembly Rules Committee this week, including, most notably, SB 679 (Kamlager), a bill to create a new Los Angeles financing authority to support affordable development. The legislation advanced with amendments removing strict hiring provisions that had been attached to previous versions of the legislation.

• The San Francisco Chronicle explored how California’s housing issues could impact the recall election on September 14—raising questions about whether Governor Newsom would “take the fall” for the state’s ongoing challenges with homelessness. Recall organizers are seeking to use the issue to drive down support for Newsom in the Bay Area and Los Angeles, reports the Chronicle, while several Republican candidates have unveiled their own homelessness platforms. “It’s unclear how much Republican attempts to tie the issue to Newsom are resonating,” the story concludes—noting that in interviews “opposition to the recall was overwhelming, with many pointing to Newsom’s leadership during the coronavirus pandemic as a reason to stand by him.”

• CalMatters provides an update on the first year of state efforts to ensure public land deals result in more affordable housing—sharing the stories of three major sports arena projects in San Diego, Oakland, and Anaheim, where cities could face tens of millions of dollars in fines for failing to include enough affordable housing. Assemblymember Phil Ting authored the bill, AB 1486 (2019), that put these new rules in place and provided HCD with new tracking and enforcement authority through the state’s Surplus Land Act. It may be too soon to “declare the law a success,” concludes CalMatters, but the high profile nature of the arena deals is raising awareness among local agencies about the need to consider affordable housing. “It’s also shifting the mindset of the public,” said Laura Nunn, policy director for the San Diego Housing Federation. “Public land, and the public good that it delivers, can and should include affordable housing.”

Federal update:

•  A group of more than 100 House Democrats urged congressional leaders this week to include an expansion of the low-income housing tax credit in the infrastructure package that is being considered by the House this fall. “Now is the time to expand and improve the Housing Credit to tackle America’s affordable housing crisis in a meaningful way,” the lawmakers wrote, encouraging Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to incorporate all of the provisions of the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act in any final package. The letter was spearheaded by Reps. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.) and Don Beyer (D-Va.), who serve on the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee.

ICYMI – Top news stories:

Does California have the will to do something about its housing crisis? We’re about to find out
San Francisco Chronicle – Editorial
Much like California’s housing production, the Legislature’s will to do anything about it is approaching zero. The legislative session’s most ambitious and controversial housing bills, SB 9 and SB 10, have made progress in recent days, which is a credit to the activists and legislators championing them against staunch opposition. Even if these bills become law, however, the victory will have been so incremental and hard-won as to raise questions about the state’s capacity to address the housing shortage fueling its outsize poverty and homelessness. If they fail, it will be a dire omen indeed.

L.A. had a golden opportunity to house homeless people in hotels — but fell short of its goal
Los Angeles Times
There can be opportunity in disaster. That certainly appeared to be the case in California when the COVID-19 pandemic sent the hotel industry into a tailspin. Thousands of rooms, sitting empty. Could they provide a temporary solution to homelessness? At the least, could they provide a safe haven for the homeless people most vulnerable to COVID? That was the thinking behind Project Roomkey, a bold statewide effort launched in spring 2020 on the wings of federal money. In Los Angeles County, it offered the hope that the most at-risk homeless people could ride out the pandemic in hotels — and eventually be placed in permanent housing. But while the program, now winding down, improved the lives of many, it never got close to its goal. Uncertainties about funding bred confusion over how long it would last, and hotels eventually began returning to their regular customers.

How sports arenas became the poster child of California’s housing crisis
CalMatters
Anaheim, San Diego and Oakland are all hoping to give their sports arenas a boost by giving the surrounding real estate a makeover. In high-gloss renderings, developers promise walkable, transit-friendly cityscapes featuring housing, hotels, shops and restaurants with plenty of inviting green space. And these cities are wagering the improvements will be enough to get professional sports teams to stay. There’s just one problem on the road to revitalization: In the eyes of the state, these projects haven’t included enough affordable housing.