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Housing California's 2008 Policy Priorities
For 2008, Housing California will continue work on a variety of key policy initiatives begun last year. Each of these major efforts is focused on increasing the variety and supply of affordable homes and/or ending homelessness in California:
- Supporting the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) Director Lynn Jacob's effort to develop a permanent source proposal for the Governor's consideration.
- Advocating for the passage of Senator Steinberg's reintroduced version of 2007's SB 851, which contains the PROMISE program. (The Homes to End Homelessness Coalition has identified this as its top priority for 2008.)
- Spearheading the California Communications Campaign for Affordable Homes to educate policy makers about how the lack of affordable homes impacts their districts and show the urgent need for a large-scale, statewide solution.
- Lobbying on implementation of the Prop. 1C Transit-Oriented Development (T.O.D.) Program and Infill Incentive Grant Program.
- Ensuring that the new Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) Housing Program works for nonprofit developers.
- Creating increased administration and legislative buy-in for solving homeless issues through the formation of a Joint Legislative Committee on Homelessness and the release of a final version of the Governor’s Ten-Year Chronic Homelessness Action Plan.
- Lobbying -- in partnership with the CA Rural Legal Assistance Foundation -- to shape significant land-use legislation, including SB 303 and SB 375.
- Working with allies in the senior community and the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD)to implement AB 927 (Saldana, Statutes of 2007).
- Conducting outreach to the nonprofit development community for the state's New Solar Homes Partnership.
In addition to these top priorities, legislators are sure to introduce more housing-related bills. At Housing California's March 2008 Policy Summit, our Policy Committee and Board of Directors will review the new bills and take positions on the most important ones.
Housing California is a member of the Affordable Homes Collaborative, whose top priority for 2008 is protecting affordable-home funding in the state budget: Prop. 1C, the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA), Emergency Housing Assistance Program (EHAP) operating grants, Office of Migrant Service farmworker centers, and the Predevelopment Loan Program.
