News
AFFORDABLE-HOME BUILDERS TO APPEAR AT POOLED MONEY INVESTMENT BOARD HEARING
More than 50,000 Affordable Rental and For-Sale Homes and 90,000 Jobs At
Risk
February 19, 2009
MEDIA CONTACT:
Karen Naungayan, (916) 447-0503 x 111
(Sacramento, CA) -- 96 Affordable-home builders from throughout California will attend the next Pooled Money Investment Board (PMIB) meeting, Wednesday, February 18, 2009, to reveal the full magnitude of impacts on affordable homes caused by the state's infrastructure financing freeze.
Despite having legally binding commitment letters from the California Department of Housing and Community Development, more than 50,000 affordable rental and for-sale homes and more than 90,000 jobs are now at risk.
"Of all the infrastructure projects funded by the PMIB, homes must be a top priority," said Rob Wiener, executive director of the California Coalition for Rural Housing. "Given the tough economic times faced by millions of Californians, we need to build homes to live in, not bridges to live under."
At the hearing, nonprofit home builders will detail the vast effects of the stalled bond funds, including how:
- Halted construction of partially completed homes is resulting in significant job losses and reducing revenues for local governments. According to the National Association of Homebuilders, every 100 apartments built creates 133 local jobs.
- Delayed start of construction of new homes is further impacting the rapidly constricting construction job market and local revenues.
- The State will be forced to pay millions of additional dollars in the form of high interest rates on temporary bank loans to fill the current funding gap.
- More and more Californians may become homeless as a result of the lack of affordable places to live.
In some cases, nonprofit affordable-home builders -- who usually do not have reserves large enough to wait indefinitely for the state loans -- will face foreclosure on their developments. When they do, not only will the affordable rents convert to market-rate rents, but any prior state investment in the development will be permanently lost. Additionally, the state may be held legally responsible to pay for lost amounts of private capital that is typically invested in affordable developments.
"The collapse of the housing market created the current financial meltdown," said Julie Snyder, policy director at Housing California. "The PMIB has the power to prevent a further meltdown, while creating desperately needed jobs and preventing more Californians from becoming homeless by putting roofs over their heads."
Affordable-home builders throughout the state are compiling lists of the affected affordable-home developments. A partial listing of affected developments is available on the Housing California website.
About Housing California
Housing California believes the solution to California's broken housing market is increasing the supply and variety of decent, safe, and affordable homes that meet the different needs of Californians. Preventing homelessness and helping families find decent places to live has been its mission since 1979. With a statewide coalition of more than 1,000 nonprofit developers, homeless-service organizations, and regional and local affordable-home advocates, Housing California helped pass Proposition 46 (California's $2.1 billion housing bond) and Proposition 1C (the Housing and Emergency Shelter Trust Fund Act of 2006).
