CCRH LEGISLATIVE & BUDGET SUPPORT SIGN-ON
We need your immediate support for the following four priority measures sponsored this year by the California Coalition for Rural Housing (CCRH) in the California Legislature.
AB 1945 (Aguilar-Curry)
AB 1945 (Aguilar-Curry) would create the Affordable Disaster Housing Revolving Development and Acquisition Program, an emergency bridge loan fund for housing recovery in disaster areas. AB 1945 seeks $100 million to be administered by the California Department of Housing and Community Development and contracted to Community Development Financial Institutions for the purpose of making quick, short-term loans on good terms and conditions to affordable housing developers, local governments, Tribes, and individual consumers for low-income home repair, construction, and replacement. Loans will be recovered through loan repayments and relent for subsequent disasters.
AB 1911 (Gabriel)
AB 1911 (Gabriel) would create a new Affordable Housing Preservation Tax Credit (AHPTC) to support the preservation of tens of thousands of units of affordable housing that are at risk of converting to market rate or of displacing low-income tenants. The AHPTC would provide a 50% credit (up to $20,000 per unit and $1 million per transaction) against the state and federal capital gains otherwise owed by the seller of an existing building or park if they sell to a nonprofit entity who will operate the property as affordable housing for low-income households for 55 years.
AB 1654 (Rivas)
AB 1654 (Rivas) would require that a specified percentage of any annual augmentation of State Low-Income Housing Tax Credits be earmarked for the Farmworker Housing Assistance Tax Credit Program administered by the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee. Currently, the Program accrues at the rate of $500,000 million annually, far too little to finance the production of farmworker housing. Over the last two years, farmworkers, who are overwhelmingly Latinx, poor, and ill-housed, have been located at the intersection of COVID-19 and the housing crisis. It is unacceptable that the people who labor in the fields during a pandemic to put food on our dinner tables in the comfort of our homes do not enjoy the same safety and comfort in their homes.
California Tribes
California Tribes, assisted by CCRH, are seeking $109 million in the FY 2022/23 State Budget for the creation of a new California Tribal Housing Grant Program (THGP) designed specifically for and by Tribes. It will provide a pathway for Tribes to reconstitute communities that have been systematically displaced and disenfranchised since California became a state. Tribes will be able to build new housing for rent or ownership, while also addressing their community’s infrastructure needs, such as plumbing and electrical power. Funds may also be used to assist tribal members to buy a new home or repair or replace substandard homes. Assistance will be provided in the form of a grant or low-interest, forgivable loan, much like California’s Joe Serna Farmworker Housing Grant Program. To ensure the new THGP is truly culturally appropriate, a Tribal Equity Advisory Committee will be created to help build the program together with California Tribes and the California Department of Housing and Community Development.