CHC's Industry Insight
A Note from our Executive Director

Californians struggling to pay the rent have effectively been taken hostage by politics in Sacramento. 
 
In the final two weeks of the two-year legislative session, adoption of Governor Brown's "by right" proposal appears increasingly unlikely. News reports indicate that opponents of Brown's plan have walked away from negotiations. But the takeaway from this year shouldn't be about which interest groups emerged as winners. Instead, Californians should be outraged that in the budget "deal" for housing made in the Capitol earlier this year, they stood to lose the most. The $400 million budget commitment legislators made to build affordable homes will not be realized until Governor Brown is satisfied barriers to construction of urban, multi-family developments with an affordable component are sufficiently removed - giving a few narrow interests the power to block crucial investment in homes for families and jobs for Californians. 

With a full-blown housing affordability crisis here and growing, California must do better than allow political stalemate to drive more Californians into poverty and send more jobs out of state. In the coming months, CHC will play a leading role in bringing together affordable homebuilders, homeless service providers, advocates for seniors, veterans, children and Californians with low-incomes to demand Gov. Brown and Legislative leaders stop taking hostages and start taking action. A crucial first step must be authorizing the $400 million investment allocated in the FY 16-17 budget to get shovel-ready developments underway while discussions continue over meaningful land use reforms.  

As always, your voices as affordable homebuilders, job creators and community leaders will be crucial in this effort.  

Sincerely,





Ray Pearl 
CHC Executive Director 
In Case You Missed It...
  • In order to build support for the Governor's "by right" proposal, HCD held a several events in July to discuss the benefits of the plan to streamline approval processes for developments with affordable units. CHC members attended these events and voiced support for the proposal if amended to address affordability thresholds, inclusionary requirements, and displacement provisions.
  • Unfortunately, by early August, negotiations between the opponents and administration ended in a stalemate. CHC is working diligently to bring together a wide range of supporters to urge the Governor and legislature to approve the $400 million for affordable housing programs regardless of the outcome of the "by right" proposal. California leaders must not waste this rare opportunity to invest in readily available solutions while more families fall into poverty.
  • The legislature now has until August 31 to pass the remainder of this session's bills. This includes:
    • AB 1934 (Santiago) which incentivizes commercial developers to partner with affordable housing developers to create more housing for low-income workers
    • AB 2031 (Bonta) which allows local jurisdictions to bond against their redevelopment "boomerang" funds
    • AB 2208 (Santiago) which revises the definition of land suitable for development to include air rights above sites owned or leased by local governments in their housing elements
    • AB 2501 (Bloom) which reduces housing development costs and encourages residential developers to build homes of varying affordability levels by clarifying some provisions of state Density Bonus Law
    • AB 2818 (Chiu) which helps increase California's affordable homeownership opportunities for low- and moderate-income working families by ensuring that Community Land Trusts may utilize the welfare exemption for properties with income restrictions
    • SB 879 (Beall) which would provide $3 billion through a statewide housing bond to fund existing critical and successful affordable housing programs in California
  • CHC members can receive $25 off registration for BIA of Southern California's 'House LA 2016' event on August 25th by using the code 'HOUSE25'. Click here for more details.
100 Days, 1 Million Messages:

Let's Get Housing on the National Agenda

By Angela Boyd, Managing Director, Make Room

The conventions are over. Candidates up and down the ballot are out on the campaign trail making promises and asking for votes. 
 
Will affordable housing be on their agenda? Let's join forces to make sure that it is

As an advocate, you know that our nation is facing a housing affordability crisis of record proportions. Too many people can't make rent or mortgage today, and Congress has done little to ease this growing burden. A recent poll from Make Room and Ipsos Public Affairs found that nearly three quarters of likely voters agree that affordable housing should be a core component of Democratic and Republican Party platforms.

In the same poll, a nearly unanimous 92 percent of self-identified Democrats, as well as a significant 55 percent of Republicans and 78 percent of Independents, say that they are more likely to support a candidate who makes housing affordability a focus of their campaigns and a priority in government.

From now until Election Day, a major coalition of nonprofit, private and public sector partners are joining together with individual activists to deliver one clear message to Congress: 20 million Americans can't afford a place to live and need your help.
 
But we aren't stopping there. On September 1 Make Room will launch a new interactive advocacy platform for organizations and individuals to send direct messages - emails, phone calls, tweets - to members of Congress. Plus, people can share their stories and see what their members are saying and doing about housing. And there are prizes for taking action! We need your help in getting the word out to as many people as possible.
 
There are three things you can do to become a strategic partner in this campaign:
  1. Sign on to the national letter today at http://www.makeroomusa.org/take-action-organizations/.
  2. Download the campaign toolkit with sample emails, website posts and social media and get ready to mobilize your supporters on September 1.
  3. Let us know when you're doing events and tours with your members of Congress between now and the election. We want to include this in our tally of what members are saying, writing and seeing about the housing affordability crisis.
This problem is solvable - if Congress does its part to increase resources and improve policies. Join us. Let's make some noise and make some change.
Affordable Housing in the News
 
As the state's housing affordability crisis continues to make headlines statewide, CHC is working to advance the conversation around policy solutions.  CHC partnered with AARP to call for passage of Governor Brown's "by right" plan to enable seniors to keep up with rental costs as a "Silver Tsunami" approaches California in this Los Angeles Daily News op-ed (August 4) by Nancy McPherson, AARP State Director.   As the Los Angeles Times (August 11) reported opponents had walked away from the negotiating table with Gov. Brown, San Francisco Chronicle (August 9) said California's housing price-induced poverty rate was a reason to keep moving forward with "by right."  Meanwhile, local governments are exploring local solutions on top of state relief.  Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas writes in The Huffington Post  (July 11) that his colleagues are exploring a general sales tax, parcel tax or marijuana cultivation tax to help tackle homelessness. 
Thank You to Our Supporting Banks and Foundations

We want to extend a huge thank you to our supporting banks and foundations. Their continued support over the years has allowed us to reinforce our ability to grow as an organization and gain momentum in our work for California's neediest families. Thank you Bank of America, Chase, Citi, Union Bank, US Bank and Wells Fargo! 




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CHC is a non-partisan advocate for the production and preservation of housing affordable to low- and moderate-income Californians. We represent the development, building, financial, and public sectors united in their goal that every Californian has a safe, affordable place to call home.