Daily Journal
By Corey Browning
As state laws pushing for affordable housing production continue to take shape, a new bill by state Sen. Josh Becker, D-San Mateo, looks to keep funding for below-market rate housing flowing in cities that could otherwise be cut off as a result of existing penalties for not meeting housing goals
Local jurisdictions can find themselves barred from receiving state funding to produce subsidized homes as a result of insufficient plans to build new housing, a penalty built into the Regional Housing Needs Allocation targets. Cities that do not submit sufficient plans to fulfill the allocations can forfeit their eligibility for various grants available to affordable housing developers.
“The penalty is counterproductive and makes absolutely no sense,” said Becker. “Cities and counties should be on the hook for compliance, but affordable homes should not be used as a bargaining chip.”
The legislation, Senate Bill 1094, is timely as Bay Area cities will need to submit their plans — called housing elements — by the beginning of next year. The plans will need to indicate where cities intend to permit housing over the next eight years. And this year’s allocations are not only much larger than they have ever been, but state officials will be scrutinizing the plans to ensure viability in ways they have not done in past cycles.
Becker’s office pointed to several cities that were required to submit plans earlier this year, ahead of Bay Area jurisdictions, in which housing elements have been determined to be out of compliance by the state Department of Housing and Community Development.