Legislative & Regulatory Advocacy

2020 State Recommendations

1. Streamline Department of Housing and Community Development rental housing funding programs through a single application and award process to reduce development costs.
2. Make permanent the $500 million annual increase to the California Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program to jump-start affordable housing production and provide an additional $100 million annually to rehabilitate existing affordable rental properties.
3. Create a new Affordable Housing Preservation Tax Credit to preserve existing affordable housing at risk of conversion and to fight displacement pressures.
4. Allow affordable housing to be built by right on land currently zoned for commercial or public uses and on church-owned lands. 
5. Reduce the threshold for voter approval of local funding of affordable housing and infrastructure from 67% to 55% as was done for educational facilities in 2000. 
6. Exempt supportive housing and affordable housing funded by MHP, HOME or CDBG from CEQA reviews.

2020 Federal Recommendations

The California Housing Partnership urges Congress to:

1) Support HR 2, the Moving Forward Act of 2020, a $1.5 trillion infrastructure package that would expand and improve California’s access to tax-exempt bond and Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) financing, and includes $100 billion to construct and preserve 1.8 million affordable homes.

2) Support the HEROES Act, the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act of 2020, which responds to the COVID-19 outbreak and its impact on the economy, public health, state and local governments, individuals, and businesses.

3) Support the House-proposed HUD FY2021 appropriations levels to ensure adequate funding to vital federal housing programs as well as critical additional investments in housing infrastructure in response to COVID-19.