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Hello Housing California Supporter,
In This Edition:
Governor Yet to Take Action on Housing Bills
With
only three days left until the September 30, 2012, bill signing deadline,
Governor Jerry Brown has not yet weighed in on any of the housing or homeless
bills we're following closely. The governor generally tackles the end-of-year
bill crush by subject area, so we expect action on a slew of our bills all at
once.
The
bills we're watching:
AB 345 (Torres) reforms the rules governing local agencies'
spending of housing dollars under the new version of redevelopment created by
SB 1156 (Steinberg). Our position:
Support
AB 1532 (Pérez) and
SB 535 (de León)
require at least 25 percent of the Cap and Trade auction revenues to be
allocated to benefit disadvantaged communities and establish sustainable
transportation and housing as one of six funding categories. Our position: Support
AB 1585 (Pérez) allows the state Department of Housing and Community
Development to award $50 million in infill and transit-oriented development funding.
Our position: Support
AB 1699 (Torres) sets uniform rules for the state
Department of Housing and Community Development to restructure old loans for
developments needing significant rehabilitation. Our position: Support
AB 1951 (Atkins) allocates $30 million from unused Proposition 1C funds to
the Multifamily Housing Program. Our position: Support
SB 1156 (Steinberg) authorizes local governments to use tax-increment financing
for a variety of community development purposes, including affordable-home
development. Our position: Support
Contact: Julie Snyder, 916.447.0503 x102 or jsnyder@housingca.org.
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Housing California Urges HUD to Adopt Modernized Funding Formula in Interim Continuum-of-Care Rule
Deadline to Submit Comments is October 1st
The U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development (HUD) is accepting comments until October 1st on the Interim
Continuum of Care Rule that was published on July 31, 2012. The rule outlines
the regulatory implementation of the new Continuum of Care Program authorized
by 2009's Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing
(HEARTH) Act.
Housing California will be
submitting comments to HUD this week, and urges other organizations to do the
same. Specifically, Housing California focused comments on the need for HUD to
examine the current funding formula and consider adding in more-modern factors
that take into account the causes of homelessness such as poverty, the cost of
rental housing, and overcrowding.
Deadline: Comments must be submitted by October 1, 2012.
Contact: Zack Olmstead, 916.447.0503 x108 or zolmstead@housingca.org
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Senate Committee Seeks Feedback on Development Barriers
 The state Senate Committee on Transportation and Housing
is requesting feedback from nonprofit developers on "state or local
statutory or regulatory requirements for which the costs may outweigh the
benefits."
If you're interested in providing feedback, see the
August 29, 2012, letter to our executive director Shamus Roller for additional details and the committee's address.
Contact: Zack Olmstead, 916.447.0503 x108 or zolmstead@housingca.org or Julie Snyder, 916.447.0503 x102 or jsnyder@housingca.org.
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Housing California Submits Comments to HCD on Draft Housing-Element Update Guidance
On
Monday, Housing California submitted comments on behalf of 11 organizations to
the state Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) regarding its
draft Housing Element Update Guidance.
Legal services organizations, regional housing advocates, and statewide groups
collaborated on the letter.
The
draft guidance proposes a streamlined housing-element update and review. The
goal of the streamlined process is to reduce HCD staff time spent on each
review without compromising the quality of the reviews. The change is a
response to SB 375's modifications to the housing-element update schedule. Rather
than being staggered, almost 75 percent of the elements are due within a
two-year period.
Our
joint comments make specific recommendations to ensure that HCD retains its
capacity to thoroughly and thoughtfully review all housing elements for
compliance with state law.
In
this year's budget, Housing California and Western Center on Law and Poverty
successfully advocated for five new housing-element review positions for HCD. However,
they still need 8-10 more reviewers to handle the compressed workload. Streamlined
review will reduce this, but to what extent is unknown at this point.
Contact: Felicity Lyons, 916.447.0503 x110 or flyons@housingca.org.
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Cities File Suit Against Redevelopment Dissolution Bill
On Monday, the League of
California Cities filed a lawsuit against the state, alleging that numerous provisions of this year's
redevelopment dissolution legislation, AB 1484,
are unconstitutional.
The challenged provisions
include:
- The Department of
Finance's (DOF) authority to perform a range of actions, including approving
Recognized Obligation Payment Schedules, long-range asset management plans, and
Oversight Board actions.
- The DOF's
authority to order the Board of Equalization to withhold sales taxes.
- The county
auditor-controllers' authority to withhold property taxes in certain
circumstances.
The
lawsuit also alleges that the DOF has failed to comply with the Administrative
Procedure Act, which provides the procedures by which state agencies must adopt
regulations. The DOF has not adopted any regulations to implement AB 1484.
See the League's website for press releases and copies of the lawsuit exhibits.
Contact: Julie Snyder, 916.447.0503 x102 or jsnyder@housingca.org.
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Annual Conference 2013: Request for Workshop Proposals Coming Early October
Lead a workshop or institute at the nation's largest annual conference on affordable homes
and homelessness
Heads up! Watch
for our e-mail in early October requesting your workshop/institute proposals for our next Annual Conference. Next year's conference will be held April 16-18, 2013, at the Sacramento Convention Center.
- Deadline to submit: This year's deadline for submitting proposals is December 7, 2012.
Contact: Lynda Chandler, 916.447.0503 x103 or lchandler@housingca.org.
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