Affordable Housing Tax Credit Bill Passes First Committee

Please read this important press release from Assembly Member David Chiu’s office with a quote from our Policy Director Michael Lane. To view original release, please click here.

SACRAMENTO – The Assembly Committee on Housing and Community Development today voted unanimously to pass Assembly Bill 35, which is jointly authored by Assemblymember David Chiu (D-San Francisco) and Speaker Toni Atkins (D-San Diego). The bill increases the amount of state low income housing tax credits by $300 million and will also leverage an estimated $600 million in federal funds that would otherwise not come to California.

AB 35 is part of a package of bills offered by Assembly Democrats to build more affordable housing in California.

“Affordable housing is an economic imperative for California, and the state’s Low Income Housing Tax Credit is a proven public-private-partnership model for generating affordable housing,” said Speaker Toni Atkins. “That’s why we were able to win bipartisan support for AB 35, which will increase the Low Income Housing Tax Credit by $300 million, and leverage hundreds of millions of dollars more in additional federal funding and private investment that we would otherwise miss out on.  AB 35 provides an important piece of the comprehensive affordable housing solution California needs.”

“Our state funds for affordable housing are disappearing at a time when we need them most,” said Assemblymember Chiu. “Injecting $300 million into our state’s affordable housing pipeline will help us leverage federal dollars to develop and rebuild our communities. We have to do more to help Californians who want to live here to stay here.”

“AB 35 is an innovative, cost effective way to leverage significant new federal resources that will be used by private developers to create thousands of new affordable homes and jobs,” said Matt Schwartz, President and CEO of California Housing Partnership.

“The state’s Low-Income Housing Tax Credit attracts private capital to help finance much-needed affordable homes for Californians in a cost-efficient and responsible manner,” said Michael Lane, Policy Director of the Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California. “AB 35 will make this key public-private partnership even more powerful and impactful.”

“Today’s unanimous, bipartisan action to jumpstart construction on shovel-ready affordable homes is welcome news for California home builders and job seekers,” said Ray Pearl, Executive Director of the California Housing Consortium.

In addition to the $300 million tax credit investment in AB 35, the affordable housing plan from Assembly Democrats also includes:

• Establishing a permanent source of funding for affordable housing by placing a small fee on real estate transaction documents, excluding home sales.
• Legislation to create a framework for how California will spend any funds received from the National Housing Trust Fund that are expected to flow to states in 2016.
• Using a portion of the Proposition 47 funds to reduce recidivism through investment in rapid rehousing and housing supports for formerly incarcerated Californians.

AB 35 will next be heard in the Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee in late April or early May.

For more information:
Affordable Housing Fact Sheet (PDF)

Assemblymember David Chiu (D – San Francisco) is the Assistant Speaker Pro Tempore of the California State Assembly and represents the 17th Assembly District, which encompasses the eastern portion of San Francisco.