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
During the Global Climate Summit last week, the Governor signed SB 1477 (Stern), which will incentivize low-emissions technologies for affordable housing. SB 700 (Weiner), which will incentivize energy storage, is currently on the Governor’s desk. Recognizing that we need climate solutions that support new affordable housing, the California Housing Partnership worked with housing, energy equity, environmental and industry organizations on Read More
The California Housing Partnership is part of a team of leading clean energy and affordable housing organizations in California to run the new Solar on Multifamily Affordable Housing (SOMAH) program. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) initiative will provide up to $100 million annually for 10 years to fund solar energy installations on multifamily housing serving low-income and disadvantaged communities throughout the Read More
In my previous blog on GREEN updates, I highlighted new funding opportunities in sustainable housing, upcoming programs, and policy changes. The California Housing Partnership wants to ensure that multifamily affordable housing properties have the necessary resources to meet ongoing building and climate requirements. This digest continues with program and policy updates including building codes and Time of Use electricity rates, and highlights funding Read More