With rent due for another new month in the coronavirus outbreak, affordable housing advocates warn that the new recession could trigger a domino effect wiping out protections for millions of lower-income California tenants.
After Gov. Gavin Newsom rolled out his new coronavirus-decimated budget proposal this week, some affordable housing advocates expressed relief the damage wasn’t worse.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled Thursday a scaled-back plan to address housing and homelessness in California as part of a revised budget that attempts to tackle a projected $54.3 billion deficit brought on by the economic impact of COVID-19.
Real estate experts around the Bay Area knew the region’s red-hot housing market was due for a cool down, but few expected the deep freeze brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. Matt Schwartz, president and CEO of the California Housing Partnership: “People who were previously not in need of assistance are now going to need it. People who previously needed some Read More
STOCKTON — Work has started on renovating an existing vacant commercial building into affordable housing in downtown Stockton. Visionary Home Builders of California and its partners are building Liberty Square, a 74-unit rental housing complex for low-income families with a focus on veteran residents earning between 30% and 60% of area median income.
We at the Vallejo Housing Justice Coalition believe that housing is a human right and that everyone deserves to have a safe and stable home regardless of race, culture, age and sexual orientation. The essential role that housing stability plays in protecting the health of Solano County residents is even more visible and critical while in the midst of the Covid-19 Read More
Ten years ago, Michael Wolff started his Santa Rosa homebuilding firm during the throes of the Great Recession, which sent the construction sector into a spiral, wiping out half of the jobs in the industry statewide over two years. Wolff was able to navigate through that challenge by carving a niche for environmentally friendly projects at affordable prices. A subsequent building Read More
SOLANA BEACH, Calif. — When developer Ginger Hitzke first proposed an affordable housing complex on a parking lot in Solana Beach, she envisioned building 18 new homes for low-income families and adults at a cost of $414,000 per apartment. More than a decade later, her project has shrunk in size by nearly half and become more than twice as expensive. 4/9/2020: Twitter Read More
Though the dollars provided by SB 2 annually statewide are small in comparison with the $6 billion in state housing bonds passed in 2018, the fact they are an ongoing source of housing funds is significant and will go further if governments work together, according to advocates with the California Housing Partnership.
California already faced a shortage of more than 1 million homes for low-income families before the novel coronavirus hit. And now many advocates, economists and politicians say the pandemic is only going to make the situation worse. Major job losses, particularly in low-wage restaurant and hospitality sectors, and what will probably be severely depressed tax revenues for California and its cities, Read More