Governor signs historic housing package

The California State Legislature successfully passed a historic housing package that will address unique housing needs of all California on Friday.

The housing package includes particular investments for low-income families, farmworkers, and veterans.

“To get to the root of California’s diverse and region-specific housing issues, Assemblymember David Chiu, Chairman of the Assembly Committee on Housing and Community Development conducted a series of hearings and forums across the state. I was very pleased that the state accepted my invitation to begin these critical conversations in Indio, with our community’s very own nonprofit, business and government housing stakeholders,” said Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia.

February’s Indio housing affordability hearing set the tone for these larger statewide conversations which developed into this final legislative product.

The 2017 housing bill package involved fifteen total measures, one introduced by Garcia and two of which would establish the funding mechanisms for these housing programs.

AB 571, Farmworker Housing Assistance Tax Credit Program makes program reforms in the California Farm Worker Housing Tax Credit Assistance Program to make it easier to use these credits for development of rental housing where at least 50% of the units are occupationally-restricted to farm workers.

SB 2, Building Homes and Jobs Act generates about $300 million annually for affordable housing, including minority homeownership, rental housing, and farmworker housing, via a $75 per document recordation fee on real estate transactions, not including home sales. This critically important bill would create a recurring source of revenue for affordable housing not tied to General Fund appropriations. Of the estimated $300 million generated annually from recordation fees on real estate transaction, not including sales, 20% would be for homeownership and 10% for farmworker housing.

SB 3, Veterans and Affordable Housing Bond Act of 2018 (Beall) places a $4 billion general obligation bond for housing on the 2018 State ballot, including $1 billion to extend the Veterans Home Loan Program, which is currently scheduled to expire in 2018.