EPA Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund Guidelines Released

Jacqueline Woo, Senior Associate

In February, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released guidance for $27B in Greenhouse Gas Reduction Funds (GHGRF), a program authorized through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). These funds aim to speed up the deployment of zero-emission and decarbonization technologies, including residential and community solar, storage technologies, and energy efficiency upgrades, specifically focusing on ensuring that low-income and disadvantaged communities benefit from such funding. Notices of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs) are anticipated to be released in early Summer of this year. Read more>>

"Builder’s Remedy" Becomes a Reality for Many Jurisdictions

Farzad Mashhood, Senior Associate

The Bay Area’s 101 cities and nine counties had until January 31, 2023, to adopt legally-compliant Housing Elements and receive certification from the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) or be subject to what is known as the Builders Remedy. As of mid-February, only four Bay Area cities had received HCD sign-off on their Housing Elements. Southern California communities are also subject to the law and had an October 21, 2021, deadline for Housing Element approval, yet many remain out of compliance nearly 18 months later. Read more>>

Transitioning to All-Electric New Building in LA City

Jacqueline Woo, Senior Associate

Residential and commercial buildings are responsible for roughly 25% of California’s greenhouse gas emissions, and funding such as the EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund can potentially support affordable housing developers in addressing the twin goals of climate and housing. On June 1, 2023, all new affordable housing projects proposed in the City of Los Angeles will be required to be all-electric. Read more>>

New United Way Report on Homelessness

United Way of the National Capital Area, which works in the Washington D.C. area, released a report on January 25, 2023 - Vacant Homes Vs. Homelessness in Cities Around the U.S. - which used data from the U.S. Census and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to compare homeless rates and the number of vacant housing units in 100 of the nation’s largest cities. The report includes data from eight California cities—Fresno, Los Angeles, Oakland, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, and Stockton. Specific California findings included:

• San Jose has the highest population of transition-aged youth (18-24) in the nation, with nearly 85 unhoused TAY youth per 100,000 residents
• With the exception of New York City, Los Angeles has the largest number of families experiencing homelessness at 3,907
• There are 4-5 vacant homes per unhoused resident in Oakland

The NHP Foundation Releases Report Making Findings on Affordable Housing Messaging

The NHP Foundation released an industry report in February entitled Battling Hypocrisy to Build Popular Support for Affordable Housing, which dived into what people hear when they hear the words “affordable housing” and how the housing industry can refine its messaging in response. According to the report “we’ve learned that when we say affordable housing, we hear opportunity and advantages for all; when others hear affordable housing, they hear barriers, obstacles, or illusions.”

Given news reports, it's not a surprise that places that were traditionally thought to be liberal or progressive - think Palo Alto, Santa Cruz, and Berkeley - have a fair share of residents who support the idea of building housing but adamantly oppose placing the housing in their neighborhood. The NPH study found that less than half (44%) of those surveyed reported feeling “comfortable” about new affordable homes in their community. 

The report suggests a number of actions that can be taken to help these neighbors become more accepting, including providing tours of existing affordable housing development, highlighting stories of formerly homeless residents who are now living in the community successfully, showing people the human side of homelessness by directly connecting community members to people with lived experience, and by using messaging that humanizes those being served rather than relying on the use of statistics and facts.

Legislative Analyst Office Reports on Housing and Homelessness

On February 6th, the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee held a hearing on Housing and Homelessness to dig into the state of homelessness and the affordable housing shortage. In advance of the hearing, the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) released a report that provided data to frame the committee members’ conversation. None of the information included in the report is a surprise, with data showing California housing costs far higher than the national average and the State’s homeless numbers at an all-time high. The report includes helpful charts and information about both the housing and homelessness crisis, including data from the new Homelessness Data Integration System, which went on line in 2021. This is just the first of several anticipated hearings, including a joint hearing of the Senate Housing and the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committees on February 28th.

Terner Center Report on ADUs in San Diego 

Another report from the Terner Center for Housing Innovation - San Diego’s Success in Spurring Missing Middle Housing: The Accessory Dwelling Unit Bonus Program - looks at initial results of an effort to provide incentives for ADU development that is deed-restricted for lower and moderate-income families. According to the report, San Diego was the first city in the nation to offer a density incentive, enabling homeowners to exceed the State law requirements by allowing them to build more ADUs than permitted on their land in exchange for income restrictions. By law, homeowners can build one detached ADU and one junior ADU (a second unit within the main structure) on their lot by right. The report highlights the program incentives and the benefits it has had in helping the City address its RHNA numbers and provide new opportunities for more small-scale homebuilders.

So far, the program has made possible the construction of 548 new homes, with nearly 300 deed-restricted ADUs under development during the first two years of the program, a huge jump from the prior two years when only seven homes were underway.