At a time when access to affordable homes was already extremely challenging (as described in this recent report by the California Housing Partnership), COVID-19 has devastated California’s low-income communities by taking away incomes and mobility and in some cases, health. The California Housing Partnership thanks Congress for the critical supports provided in the March 25th CARES Act and the Governor Read More
In the midst of the devastation wrought by the COVID-19 crisis and the need to focus on immediate responses, it is difficult but essential to recall what else is important to the future of our ability to continue creating high quality affordable homes. One of the most effective tools to our success in building affordable homes has been the Community Read More
Amidst today’s uncertainty surrounding COVID-19 and its implications for the daily lives of California’s lowest-income families, now more than ever we need our state leaders to strengthen our ability to house and protect low-income families, seniors, and individuals. We applaud Governor Newsom’s Executive Order protecting renters and ask the Legislature to move forward with longer term plans and resources. Read More
A new report from the California Housing Partnership finds that the Bay Area needs 235,656 more affordable homes just to meet existing needs. The report finds that: High housing costs are effectively doubling official county poverty rates. More than two-thirds of the lowest income households are severely rent burdened, meaning they are paying more than half their incomes in housing Read More
The launch of the Solar On Multifamily Affordable Housing (SOMAH) program on July 1, 2019 marked the largest solar energy investment in multifamily affordable housing to date in the State of California. The overall goal of the SOMAH program is to provide financial incentives for installing photovoltaic (PV) systems on multifamily affordable rental housing homes. What makes SOMAH unique and exciting Read More
What social and economic benefits are generated when we relieve low-income families of housing insecurity and rent burden? Or when we help households move to healthier higher resource neighborhoods? How much local economic activity, job creation, and tax revenue is generated when we build and preserve affordable housing? To help answer these questions, the California Housing Partnership recently launched the Affordable Read More
As a member of the campaign’s advisory committee, I am excited to announce the launch of the investAHSC campaign website to advocate for the Affordable Housing & Sustainable Communities (AHSC) program’s continued funding through the State of California’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. With its first three funding rounds, AHSC has invested more than $701 million statewide to build affordable housing Read More
A new report from the California Housing Partnership shows that recent state initiatives designed to stimulate production of more affordable rental housing have yet to make a significant impact in reducing the shortfall of 1.4 million affordable homes needed or in housing the 130,000 Californians experiencing homelessness on any given night. California Housing Partnership CEO Matt Schwartz says, “It is unacceptable that Read More
As we head into the first full week of 2019, I wanted to share five reasons why I am feeling optimistic about the state of affordable housing in California: 1. California’s own Nancy Pelosi was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives last week. While she can’t take us back in time to pass the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act of 2017 bill or change Read More
The California Housing Partnership continues to engage with public agencies and electric utilities to ensure that multifamily affordable housing properties have the necessary resources to meet ongoing energy, water and climate requirements. This digest highlights funding opportunities and shares program and policy updates. PROGRAMS Funding for Energy Efficiency, Solar and Energy Storage CPUC’s Solar on Multifamily Affordable Housing Program Read More