This week in affordable housing news…:

State Update:

• California’s population declined for a second straight year, falling by nearly 120,000 people between January 2021 and January 2022, according to a report released this week by the state Department of Finance. The 0.3% decline is slightly less than last year’s 0.6% dip, but still represents a historic shift for a state that has never stopped growing since joining the union more than 150 years ago. The report cites several major factors behind California’s declining population numbers, including deaths from COVID, a sharp drop in immigration, and as the New York Times puts it, “a soaring cost of living” that has made housing unaffordable to millions of residents.

• As the pandemic continues to put unprecedented pressure on economically struggling tenants and landlords, lawsuits were filed by both groups this week. Tenants rights advocates sued the state Department of Housing and Community Development over what they call its “often onerous” system of processing rent relief applications—targeting the state agency’s decision to halt payments of $5.2 billion in federal rent relief to renters who applied for the funds after March 2022. According to the lawsuit, that decision left “more than 300,000 tenants and landlords” still waiting to receive help. The California Apartment Association, meanwhile, filed a separate federal suit against Alameda County this week seeking to end the county’s ongoing eviction moratorium, saying the local restrictions are being abused by some tenants.

• The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted this week to create a new super agency responsible for coordinating the county’s response to homelessness—one of the recommendations of a special committee formed to accelerate the region’s response to the crisis. The new entity, which was approved 3-2, will have authority over various agencies, including county departments of health services, social services and mental health. It will report directly to the Board of Supervisors. “The end goal is to reform the systematic dysfunction that has resulted in the dismal outcomes we’re seeing play out on our streets, in our storefronts and in our neighborhoods,” said Supervisor Kathryn Barger. “We now have a path forward.” Supervisor Holly Mitchell was one of two votes against creating the new entity: “This motion is creating another system without us knowing how much money we are using, where it’s going, and the impact it will have,” Mitchell said.

ICYMI – Top news stories:

Bill would incentivize new homes, good construction jobs
San Jose Mercury News – Oped by Ray Pearl, Danny CurtinFor several years now, the state Legislature has struggled to find a solution to one of the biggest challenges facing California: How to build more affordable housing for the millions of families, seniors, workers and veterans who can’t keep up with rising rents—while also growing the thriving, well-paid, middle-class construction workforce every community needs. Dozens of bills have been introduced over the last two sessions that sought to address one part of this housing puzzle, but none has been able to earn the support of both affordable housing advocates and labor organizations. That finally changed last week with the introduction of AB 2011 by Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland.
Newsom’s desire to accomplish ‘big hairy, audacious goals’ falls flat
CalMatters – Opinion by Dan WaltersLast weekend, Gavin Newsom released the first video ad of his campaign for a second term as California’s governor. It is, therefore, an appropriate moment to look at what he said he wanted to accomplish as governor during his 2018 campaign and how it has turned out. A two-word summary would be “reality bites.” Newsom told voters he wanted to do big things, such as creating a single-payer health system, solving the state’s chronic shortage of housing and completely converting California to renewable energy. But so far, affordable housing, renewable energy and single-payer goals have all failed to advance.

Many homeless people resist group shelters even as L.A. mayoral candidates push to build more
Los Angeles TimesThe Los Angeles mayoral primary has seen candidates throwing big numbers around concerning how much shelter they’d like to see built for homeless people. Rick Caruso wants 30,000 new beds in his first year in office, Rep. Karen Bass says 15,000 new beds in hers and Councilman Joe Buscaino wants 9,000 new beds within 36 months, to name a few of the candidates’ publicized ideas. The candidates haven’t broken down exactly how many of those beds would be group shelters, but to achieve those lofty goals there probably would need to be a large number of them. The question is, if these beds are built, will homeless people use them?
S.F. has 305 affordable housing units sitting empty, despite more than 20,000 applications from potential residents
San Francisco ChronicleHundreds of San Francisco apartments set aside for low- and moderate-income families are sitting vacant, the result of a sluggish bureaucracy and pandemic-era leasing market that has become less predictable, according to a report from the Board of Supervisors Budget & Legislative Analyst. While San Francisco’s 1992 inclusionary housing requirement has long been held up as a model—most major U.S. cities now have some version of it—the new report shows that the program is marred by high vacancy rates. Of the 1,961 units created under the program, 305 of them—about 15%—are unoccupied, according to the report. A combined 21,000 households applied to live in the 305 apartments. “We have a housing crisis in the city, and yet we have a government bureaucracy that is standing in the way of getting people housed,” said Supervisor Ahsha Safaí, who requested the report. “It’s unconscionable for us to be sitting there with that level of vacancies.”