• SB 1 (Steinberg) - This is a reintroduction of SB 1156 of 2012, which was vetoed by the Governor. SB 1 would allow certain entities to form a Sustainable Communities Investment Authority to carry out CRL. The bill would require the authority to adopt a plan and permit them to use tax increment funds if certain requirements are met. SB 1 will be heard by the Senate Committee on Governance and Finance on March 13.
• SB 341 (DeSaulnier) - This bill revises rules governing the activities and expenditures of housing successors to streamline administrative requirements while ensuring accountability, provide additional flexibility, and target scarce available resources to the greatest needs.
• AB 523 (Ammiano and Brown) - This is a reintroduction of SB 77 of 2012, which CHC supported. AB 523 would allow HCD to reduce the interest rate on loans for affordable rental projects to 0% if the projects were able to prove that they had no other debt payments, will use low-income housing tax credits, and that a reduction in the interest rate on the HCD loan is needed to allow the project to be able to qualify for low-income housing tax credits without a reduction in the interest rate. Without a 0% interest rate, projects targeted to extremely low income residents will not be able to utilize MHP funds and, therefore, AB 523 makes the difference between projects moving forward versus stalling.
• AB 532 (Gordon) - Sponsored by the Housing Trust of Santa Clara County and the Marin Workforce Housing Trust, this bill would revise the law applicable to the Local Housing Trust Fund Matching Grant Program, including reducing the maximum allocation to $1,000,000 per notice of funding availability, eliminating funding priorities for certain types of local housing trust funds, and revising requirements relative to deed restrictions and equity sharing agreements applicable to for-sale housing projects or units within for-sale housing projects.  
• AB 639 (John A. Perez) - The Veterans Housing and Homeless Prevention Act restructures $600 million of the existing Proposition 12 Veterans' Bond Act of 2008 to construct and rehabilitate multifamily veterans' housing that is affordable and supportive. In particular, the Act will focus on veterans that are at risk for homelessness or are homeless and in need of services such as mental health counseling, substance abuse treatment, job training, and/or struggling with unemployment. The bill would be submitted to voters at the November 4, 2014 general election.
• AB 1229 (Atkins) - This is a reintroduction of SB 184 of last session. AB 1229 would add language to the State Planning and Zoning Law to give cities and counties the authority to choose to require the development of inclusionary housing as a condition of development, which may include the provision of rental units that would be affordable to lower-income families. AB 1229 resolves a conflict between local inclusionary zoning ordinances and the State's Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act that have been brought to light as a result of the court decision in Palmer v. the City of Los Angeles.

CHC will be analyzing and taking positions on these and other bills over the next few weeks. 

CHC opened its Annual Lobby Days in Sacramento on Tuesday, March 5, with presentations from affordable housing champions, Assemblymember Toni Atkins, Assembly Majority Leader and principle co-author of SB 391, and Assemblymember Norma Torres, Chair of Assembly Housing and Community Development and co-author of SB 391. They spoke about the imperative of creating a dedicated source of revenue for affordable home development, the challenges facing the affordable housing industry in the post-RDA world, and the political challenges facing the Democratic super-majority in the legislature. We then heard from key staffers: Steve Shea, Policy Adviser to Senate pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, Mark Stivers, Senate Transportation and Housing Consultant, and Lisa Engel, Assembly Housing and Community Development Chief Consultant. We closed our day with a presentation from Assemblymember Brian Maienschein, who was San Diego's First Commissioner on Homelessness. During his tenure, Assemblymember Maienschein built a home for 35 of San Diego's most chronic homeless and saved the city $7 million! 

On Wednesday, March 6, CHC met with Claudia Cappio, Executive Director of the California Housing Finance Agency to discuss key issues facing CalHFA and HCD and the struggles our members have been facing since the demise of redevelopment. The CHC delegation then met with close to 30 members and advocated for SB 391. 

Founded in 1996, the mission of LifeSTEPS is to provide effective educational and supportive services to maximize the strengths of individuals and build resilient communities. LifeSTEPS is the single largest provider of social services to the residents of affordable housing communities in California. Statewide, we serve families, seniors and individuals in 22,707 units of affordable housing, providing over 80,000 people access to our strength based, resident-centered services. Our services have been tailored to meet the specific needs of our resident population living in California: literacy, public health and safety.

LifeSTEPS has developed education and literacy programs which specifically target seniors, adults and children. Our senior curriculum has been developed by a gerontologist with nearly 20 years working with this special population. Our adult curriculum, developed by leaders in our industry, focuses on practical skills that will empower our residents to take control of their lives and overcome economic, situational and educational set-backs. Our after school curriculum has been developed by an individual who also developed programs for the city of Los Angeles. The after school programs that LifeSTEPS has developed ensure that homework and homework help is available to our children and teens and also provides a full curriculum that focus on academic skills, life skills and character building. LifeSTEPS is finding ways to access valuable resources such as the Public Library Partnership where we are focused on engaging our residents into literacy. 

In addition to our educational programs, LifeSTEPS addresses public health through comprehensive case management services to our residents, ensuring our residents are provided valuable information and assistance on topics such as nutrition, child development, mental health, hoarding, etc. At LifeSTEPS, our goal is to create improved quality of life for seniors living on fixed incomes, by lengthening the amount of time they reside safely in their own apartment homes. The longer our seniors can remain safely independent, the less of a burden emergency room and nursing home costs are to society.

Communities with a strong sense of pride are less tolerant to negative outside influences. LifeSTEPS has developed resident social service programs focusing on community-building activities and community leadership skills which lead to safer neighborhoods. We help residents organize neighborhood watch programs and tenant council meetings. Our educational and case management programs also contain elements that teach safety to each of our key resident groups: seniors, adults and children/teens.