The United Voice for Affordable Housing

INDUSTRY INSIGHT NOVEMBER 2022

"After a year that saw us achieve some of our greatest legislative victories, we know who we are and what we can do to together"

Election Day is next week, and for affordable housing advocates, it’s going to be a big one. Not necessarily because of any specific issues on the state ballot—for the first time in years, there are no statewide housing ballot measures—but because in a little over a month, after a decade of unprecedented stability in the Capitol, a new Legislature will take their places in the Assembly and Senate. Thanks to a combination of term limits, redistricting, and other factors, almost 40 of the 120 members will be new faces.

We don’t know who all these new members will be—or how they will change the nature of the political debate in Sacramento.

What we do know is CHC and our partners have never had a more compelling story to tell: With the state facing shortfalls of well over a million units of affordable housing and California’s homeless population climbing past 170,000 people, our issue has become priority one for voters in every region and from every age group, across party lines.

We also know what’s in store next year: A state budget that is likely be more challenged than in year’s past. A wave of recently passed legislation—including AB 2011—that needs to be implemented to get more projects into construction. And a policy landscape that still requires more fixes to accelerate development.

CHC will be active on all of these fronts, as soon as the new Legislature is seated—introducing ourselves, our members, and all of the work we’ve done together and that we believe is left to do.

After a year that saw us achieve some of our greatest legislative victories, we know who we are and what we can do to together, and I’m confident the new Legislature will be impressed by what we have to share.

As always, I look forward to working with you all to get the job done—and to another year of building more of the safe, affordable homes Californians desperately need.

Sincerely,

Ray Pearl, Executive Director

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Election day is fast approaching. Check out CalMatters' list of hot races: State Senate, State Assembly, State Offices, Propositions, U.S. House, U.S. Senate

The UC Berkeley Terner Center has published a list of all local housing measures on this year's ballot. Read more on what these measures seek to do. A couple housing measures of note:

In the City of Los Angeles, voters are being asked to support a proposed new “mansion tax” that could raise more than $900 million a year for affordable housing—and produce roughly 26,000 units of new housing over the next decade. The initiative, known as Measure ULA, would add a 4% tax to sales or transfers of homes above $5 million—and a 5.5% tax to property of $10 million or more.

Voters in San Francisco will be considering one of the state’s first “vacant property” tax proposals, Proposition M, which seeks to expand access to housing by assessing annual fees of up to $5,000 on condos and rental units that are vacant six months of the year. Fees would rise to $10,000 in 2025 and $20,000 in 2026 for owners who continue to keep their units empty.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING NEWS OF THE MONTH

While local housing measures and legislative races dominated the news this month, the governor’s race also continued to draw media attention to affordable housing issues. CalMatters published a deep dive into Governor Newsom’s housing record, comparing his first-term campaign pledges and inauguration rhetoric with his more pragmatic, steady-as-she-goes progress while in office.

The GOP candidate in the race, former state senator Brian Dahle, argues that the billions of dollars the state has spent on homelessness “aren’t making a dent,” according to the Los Angeles Times. Dahle has proposed auditing the state’s housing programs, using state resources to crack down on encampments, and creating new incentives for substance use treatment.

With the budget outlook looking less rosy next year, many stories have focused on the tough choices ahead. “In these years of good budget outlook, the administration has done a really good job,” CHC’s Marina Wiant told CalMatters. “It’s going to be interesting to see what they do when they have to make tough budget choices.”