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SENATE PASSES KEY FUNDING BILL FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING
The California Housing Consortium (CHC) applauds the Senate's approval of Senate Bill 2 (Atkins) by vote of 27-12, the Building Homes and Jobs Act, a much-anticipated intervention to ease the state's affordable housing crisis.
The Building Homes and Jobs Act would establish a permanent funding source for affordable housing through a modest $75 fee on real estate transaction documents. The fee is capped at $225 per parcel, per transaction basis, and exempts commercial and residential real-estate transactions.
"The Senate's passage of SB 2 is the bold action we urgently need to fix the housing crisis and help meet the demand for affordable housing, which only grows by the day as more people find themselves on the brink of eviction and homelessness," said Ray Pearl, Executive Director of the California Housing Consortium. "We are eager to see the Assembly follow suit with a vote approving SB 2, recognizing families, seniors, college students and veterans should have the basic right to safe housing and shelter, and that California leaders play a role in securing permanent funding that is necessary to boost affordable housing production across the state."
SB 2 is among a package of housing bills that CHC is calling upon the Legislature to approve and send to Governor Jerry Brown before the summer recess that begins July 21. Other bills include: AB 1505 (Bloom) that restores local governments' ability to set priorities for development that include homes affordable to workers and others with limited incomes, and SB 35 (Weiner) that creates a streamlined approval process for housing when cities are not meeting the housing creation goals required by the Regional Housing Needs Assessment and would in turn expedite the construction of affordable housing.
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