AUGUST NEWSLETTER
STATE BUDGET UPDATE
The 2018 – 2019 state budget includes $550 million in emergency funding to help local government acrossthe state address homelessness. In addition, the state’s Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council, which will distribute the emergency funding, was expanded and elevated to the California Business, Consumer Serv. Services and Housing Agency (BCSH) on July 1, 2018. Dedicated staff will be hired to support the Council.
The grants will provide funding to local governmentsto respond to homelessness through prevention efforts, emergency aid and providing wrap‐around services. Local Continuums of Care, the regional or local planning bodies that coordinate housing and services funding for homeless families and individuals, will administer the grants.
Allocations will be as follows:
$250 million to be distributed to Continuums of Care, with the amounts based on their point‐in‐time count of homeless individuals; $100 million allocated to local Continuums of Care based on their percentage of the statewide homes population; and $150 million in direct allocation to a city, or city that is also a county, with a population over 330,000. The notice of funding availability for the Homeless Emergency Aid Block Grants will be released late this summer, with the goal of distributing the money starting in the fall.
STATE LEGISLATION
Here’s an update on the bills that we are following.
AB 1768 (Steinorth). This bill allows the San Bernardino Housing Authority to join the Middle Income Housing Development Pilot Program established last year by AB 1637.
Signed into law by Governor.
AB 1771 (Bloom). This bill is a major overhaul of the Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) which must be achieved in order for the Housing Package of 2017, and other future funding bills, to be successfully used. It is being extensively revised as it progresses, but it addresses not just RHNA allocations, but also considers low‐income mobility for better access to good schools and jobs, the need to prevent displacement, and affirmative further fair housing.
To Senate Appropriations 8/6/18.
AB 1804 (Berman). This bill grants a categorical CEQA exemption to infill projects being developed in unincorporated areas of a county. It amends the bill (passed last year) that allows this exemption only within city limits.
To Senate Appropriations 8/6/18.
AB 2372 (Gloria). This bill provides an alternative to density bonuses, the floor area ratio bonus, to projects which choose not to request density bonuses based on units per acre. The bill benefits high‐density smaller projects and releases them from parking requirements that would otherwise be imposed by local agencies.
On Senate Floor. Second Reading.
AB 2562 (Mullin). This bill, along with continuing efforts to revise the Department of Housing's Uniform Multifamily Regulations (UMRs), is a technical bill that would enable the MHP program to function more efficiently. In particular, it would allow HCD to set interests rates on loans at a rate less than the Applicable Federal Rate, which would result in big savings to developers.
To Senate Appropriations 8/6/18.
AB 2923 (Chiu and Grayson). This bill requires parking structures on BART land to be used for housing and requires local agencies to amend their local planning and zoning ordinance to allow for these projects. The projects would have to meet all the TOD requirements, and would provide for 35% affordable housing units.
To Senate Appropriations 8/6/18.
SB 828 (Weiner). This bill is another bill addressing RHNA requirements. It has moved to the Assembly, where it will continue to be revised. This bill is also necessary to ensure a more fair process in making RHNA allocations.
To Assembly Appropriations Committee.
NOVEMBER BALLOT MEASURES
Proposition 1. SB 3 (Beall).
The Veterans and Affordable Housing Bond Act of 2018, If approved by the
voters, will issue $4 billion of bonds for a variety of statewide housing programs, including additional funding for going programs currently being administered by HCD and CalHFA.
See link to full analysis of Proposition 1.
http://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/ballot‐measures/pdf/sb3‐ch365.pdf
Proposition 2. AB 1827.
The No Place Like Home Act, previously passed by the Legislature, to provide funding for housing the chronically mentally is now on the ballot for approval by the people of the State of California.
See link to full analysis of Proposition 2
http://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/ballot‐measures/pdf/ab‐1827‐ch41.pdf
Proposition 5.
Removes requirement for certain property owners over the age of 55 or severely disabled to transfer their property tax based to a replacement residence. These requirements are: that the replacement property be of equal or lesser value, replacement residence be in a specific county, and the transfer occurs only once. Also applies to contaminated or disaster‐destroyed
property.
See link to full analysis of Proposition 5
https://www.oag.ca.gov/system/files/initiatives/pdfs/17%E2%80%90013%20(Property%20Tax%20V3).pdf
Proposition 10.
Expands Local Governments’ Authority to Enact Rent Control on Residential Property. Repeals state law that currently restricts the scope of rent‐control policies that cities and other local jurisdictions may impose. Allow policies that would limit the rental rates that the residential‐property owners may charge for new tenants, new construction, and single family homes.
See link to full analysis of Proposition 10
Expands Local Governments’ Authority to Enact Rent Control on Residential Property. Initiative Statute.
See also:
Terner Center Analysis of Rent Control Issues and Solutions
https://ternercenter.berkeley.edu/finding‐common‐ground‐rent‐control
Tenants Together – Arguments Supporting Rent Contol
http://www.tenantstogether.org/rent‐control‐toolkit