This week in affordable housing news…:

State Update:

• The Assembly and Senate voted this week on a budget bill for the 2023-24 fiscal year, meeting a constitutionally-mandated June 15 deadline—though the final deal with the Governor is still several weeks away. While the Governor and Legislature remain at odds on several major issues—including clean energy and transit funding—they share similar approaches to affordable housing: Both the Legislature and Governor propose maintaining $2.5 billion in funding for affordable housing and homelessness programs, with the Legislature adding a $100 million boost to the Multifamily Housing Program. As CHC noted this week, these investments will be essential for the state to achieve its housing goals. Given the scale of the state’s housing challenges, they also underscore the need for even more substantial, long-term support via AB 1657 (Wicks), the $10 billion housing bond now moving through the Legislature.

• Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass reported this week that more than 14,000 people experiencing homelessness have been moved off the streets during the first six months of her administration—with a 4,332 people (30%) acquiring permanent housing, according to the Los Angeles Times. An additional 10,049 people were placed in interim housing through city and county programs. Of those in permanent housing, about one-third moved into new housing units, with the rest using subsidies to obtain rental units. “We believe the emergency obviously continues, but we do see a way forward,” Bass said at a press conference at City Hall. Mayor Bass put homelessness at the forefront of her campaign—pledging to house 17,000 people in her first year in office.

ICYMI – Top news stories:

Gavin Newsom shuts down questions from Fox News host Sean Hannity on presidential run
Sacramento Bee
Gov. Gavin Newsom continued to deflect questions about his White House ambitions and offered a ringing defense of President Joe Biden during a wide-ranging interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity that aired Monday night. Hannity pressed Newsom on a variety of topics, including homelessness and affordable housing in California. Hannity showed Newsom a 2008 video of himself as mayor of San Francisco, when he touted a 10-year plan to end chronic homelessness in the city. The governor called California’s homelessness situation “a disgrace” and said the state only recently began investing in the issue after decades of neglect. “The state of California was not involved in the homeless issue,” Newsom said. “We got involved. We’re holding cities and counties accountable. I’m suing cities that are not producing housing.”

More than 100 vacant, government-owned parcels in L.A. could be used for housing, study finds
Los Angeles Times
On Google Earth it looks like a stunning opportunity: six acres of vacant land surrounded by single-family homes in a West Valley neighborhood. After being abandoned to shoulder-high weeds for nearly a decade, the former elementary school site in Woodland Hills is now a target for development. But it’s not being scoped out for million-dollar homes like those around it. Instead, a group of prominent civic leaders has identified the parcel as a prime location for shelter or housing for homeless people. It’s on a list commissioned by the Committee for Greater L.A. to prod City Hall to use surplus government land for homeless housing.

Skid Row receivership in danger of financial collapse, leaving 1,500 tenants at risk
Los Angeles Times
The receivership overseeing the welfare of 1,500 tenants in Skid Row is verging on insolvency, unable to borrow money and piling up $1.7 million in unpaid bills. The financial circumstances have become so dire that Mark Adams, the receiver in charge of 29 properties owned by Skid Row Housing Trust, is asking for emergency action from a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge, or else he said he’ll have to cancel security contracts, lay off his staff and surrender the effort. “The receivership is quite literally starving for cash,” Adams wrote in a court filing. To rescue the receivership, Adams suggested the court itself would have to guarantee loans to operate and rehabilitate the buildings. Adams’ request is expected to be heard at a June 15 court hearing.