Housing crunch spurring legislators into action
With 130 bills in pipeline, vote is possible soon
SACRAMENTO — Five years after California ended a program that helped pay for affordable housing, lawmakers are eager to create a new permanent stream of public funding to spur development amid what they say is the state’s worst housing crisis.
Lawmakers — concerned that soaring rents and a scarcity of affordable homes have pushed families into poverty or onto streets — are negotiating a deal with Gov. Jerry Brown to create funding sources and relax restrictions on development to kick-start a building boom. A vote on legislation may come next week.
The housing crisis, they say, is partially due to the state ending its 60-year-old program that infused $1 billion a year into redevelopment agencies, which had to set aside a portion for affordable housing. At the same time, the state has exhausted nearly $5 billion in affordable-housing bonds that voters passed in 2002 and 2006. Those changes, coupled with local restrictions on development, such as zoning laws that prohibit high-density housing, have led to a decrease in the stock of new homes, lawmakers say.
Developers built an average of 80,000 homes in California each year over the past decade, far short of the 180,000 needed each year, according to the California Department of Housing and Community Development. In prior years, about 160,000 homes a year were built.
“California is in the most intense housing crisis in our state’s history,” said Assem-
blyman David Chiu, DSan Francisco. “For the millions of Californians who are suffering, Sacramento needs to act. There is no silver bullet to the housing crisis.”
This year, lawmakers introduced 130 housingrelated bills, some allowing new fees and new borrowing to fund development and others forcing reluctant cities to approve high-density and low-income units.
Among the most talked about bills is SB2 by state Sen. Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, which would create a permanent $300 million-a-year fund for low-income and affordable housing. The fund would be supported by new $75 to $225 recording fees on real estate documents and property transactions, with an exception for home sales. The fee would apply to documents like deeds and notices of default.
Another bill, SB3 by state Sen. Jim Beall, DSan Jose, would ask voters in 2018 to approve $3 billion in general obligation bonds to build more rental housing for lowincome families and to fund other existing housing programs, such as developments near masstransit centers.
Lawmakers are also seeking to divert more money from the state’s cap-and-trade program — which requires businesses to buy permits for their greenhouse gas emissions — to affordable housing that reduces transportation pollution, such as projects that add high-density housing near public transit. Already, the state sets aside 20 percent of cap-andtrade revenue for such housing.
Brown wants new funding to be tied to the easing of restrictions on home building.
One example of that is SB35, a bill by state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, to streamline the approval process for new housing units in cities that aren’t creating the amount set by state law.
Another is AB73 by Chiu to give cities financial incentives to rezone developments near mass transit for high-density housing.
Lawmakers are also seeking legislation to strengthen the state’s Housing Accountability Act, which bars cities from turning away development for arbitrary reasons, such as complaints by neighbors who oppose change.
“All communities must participate in creating the housing we need,” Wiener said. “Decisions about housing in one community affect other communities.”
Homeownership in California has dropped to 1940s levels. Meanwhile, the cost of rental housing has skyrocketed. California counties lead the nation for having the most expensive rental housing, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
Among the top 10 least affordable counties in the nation, California held seven spots, and six were in the Bay Area: Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Alameda and Contra Costa counties.
Amie Fishman, executive director of the NonProfit Housing Association of Northern California, called the state’s ranking “an embarrassing honor to hold and a devastating hardship for our communities.”
Deals to spur development have fallen through in recent years. This year, however, the governor is demanding that the Legislature approve the extension of cap and trade — and legislative leaders have delayed that vote to gain leverage in their negotiations with the governor over the housing legislation.
Brown’s spokesman, Evan Westrup, called discussions over housing legislation productive and ongoing. Westrup said the governor agreed to work on a housing deal and the extension of the state’s system for fighting climate change at the same time at the request of the Assembly. And that could mean both plans are voted on next week before the Legislature adjourns for summer recess July 21.
The California Housing Consortium — an affordable-housing advocacy group — estimates that 1.5 million affordable units are needed for the lowestincome brackets to meet the state’s needs.
“California has been in the midst of a housing crisis for years, and I think what gets us where we are today is a general feeling that the crisis has moved to a catastrophe,” said Ray Pearl, executive director of the California Housing Consortium. “The catastrophe is real. There are low-income Californians on the brink of homelessness. You can’t pick up a newspaper that doesn’t mention homelessness on the rise across the state. I think we are finally at a point where it equals action.”