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State Budget Wins for Affordable Housing

by Mark Stivers, Director of Advocacy & Andrew Dawson, Policy Advocacy Manager

With the Governor’s signature yesterday on the main state budget bill (a few others remain pending), the Partnership is pleased to summarize the outcomes of this year’s difficult budget process.  Facing a budget deficit of more than $45 billion, the Governor and lawmakers made many cuts to affordable housing programs but, importantly, spared those programs most critical to the continued development of affordable rental housing, including the state Low-Income Housing Tax Credits and the Multifamily Housing Program. 

The Partnership applauds the hard and effective work of the broad coalition of affordable housing, homelessness, and housing justice organizations that made this modest victory possible (see this week’s coalition statement). 

The final approved budget includes the following actions that relate to affordable housing, homelessness, and sustainability in affordable housing: 

  • Approves an additional $500 million for Low Income Housing Tax Credit program for 2025.
  • Restores $315M to the Multifamily Housing Program (MHP) [The Legislature had suggested $325, but the final agreement moved $10M to REAP].
  • Provides $1 billion to the Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention (HHAP) Program for Round 6 and strengthens program oversight, transparency, and performance accountability, including requiring non-tribal grants to go only to regional consortia and allowing the Attorney General to enforce HHAP law.
  • Restores $260M to Regional Early Action Planning (REAP) 2.0 grants.
  • Retains $525M of the original $922M in the Equitable Building Decarbonization Program and includes some delays to 2028-29.
  • Provides $150M to the Encampment Resolution Program.
  • Appropriates $575K to Homes4Families for veteran housing.
  • Appropriates $2M to Santa Cruz for homeless programs.
  • Appropriates $1M to LA Black Workers Center for housing and job training at excess EDD site.
  • Appropriates $1.5m this year and $774k next year for the AB 519 workgroup that will discuss one-stop shop and other streamlining concepts.

In addition to these budgeted items, the following amounts will be available from other “continuously appropriated” funds in the 2024-2025 budget year:

  • 20% of Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund proceeds for the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities (AHSC) Program.
  • $192.5M from SB 2 document recording fees for the Permanent Local Housing Allocation (PLHA) Program.
  • $41M from SB 2 document recording fees for CalHFA’s Mixed-Income Program.
  • $27.5M from SB 2 document recording fees for farmworker housing, likely directed to the Joe Serna, Jr. Farmworker Housing Grant Program.

As mentioned above, the budget did “revert,” or claw back, over $1B in funding from previous budgets for a variety of housing programs as follows: 

  • $484M from the Foreclosure Intervention Housing Preservation Program.
  • $235M from the Infill Infrastructure Grant (IIG) Program.
  • $152.5M from the CalHome Program.
  • $127.5M from the Adaptive Reuse Program (i.e., IIG Catalyst Program).
  • $76.3M from the Veterans Housing and Homeless Program.
  • $40M from the REAP 2.0. Program.
  • $10M from the Multifamily Housing Program.

At this time, we do not know when the California Department of Housing and Community Development plans to offer the MHP or other funds under its control.  We will share that information as it becomes available.  Please feel free to reach out at mstivers@chpc.net or adawson@chpc.net with any questions.