SAN FRANCISCO (May 24, 2022) – A new analysis of California’s affordable housing pipeline from housing nonprofit Enterprise Community Partners (Enterprise) found that with an investment of just 4 percent of the state’s nearly $100 billion budget surplus, the state could create more than 14,000 affordable homes that would otherwise remain stuck and unbuilt in the affordable housing pipeline.
According to Enterprise’s research, there are currently 30,677 affordable homes in the near-term affordable housing pipeline in need of final financing to begin construction. But with the current levels of funding available through state and federal tax credits, tax-exempt bonds and the funds in the California Housing Accelerator program, only 16,624 of those homes stand to move forward this year. The analysis found that if the state dedicated $4 billion, or 4 percent of the budget surplus, to the California Housing Accelerator program, California would be able to develop the remaining 14,053 homes.
“It can take years for affordable housing developers to assemble the financing, community buy-in and cross-sector partnerships required to break ground on a new development. As prices rise even further out of reach for the lowest-income Californians, we cannot allow a gap in financing to prevent 14,000 homes from crossing the finish line,” said Justine Marcus, Northern California senior state and local policy director, Enterprise Community Partners. “The budget surplus is an opportunity to invest in our communities and with our values. Directing even a portion of the surplus to affordable housing would have a massive impact.”
To provide the benefits of quality, affordable housing to California families, communities and workers, elected leaders and housing advocates are calling on Governor Newsom and the California State Legislature to fund the California Housing Accelerator program so these shovel-ready homes can be built. This investment would create 9,170 jobs every year, on average, and generate upwards of $222 million in state and local taxes and $764.5 million in annual income in California.
“California is facing a crippling housing shortage. Cities across the state, like Oakland, have new affordable housing developments ready to go. This is an amazing opportunity to immediately build thousands of needed affordable homes in our communities,” said Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf.
“Rural, suburban and city-dwelling Californians all have one thing in common: they are unnecessarily housing cost-burdened. Both before and during the COVID-19 global pandemic, Governor Newsom and the Legislature have asserted that we need a California For All, not just for some. Keeping this promise begins with investing in the California Housing Accelerator,” said Christopher Martin, policy director, Housing California. “Facing this federal shortfall of critical affordable housing dollars, California has the opportunity to step up and put a small portion of the budget surplus towards unlocking these affordable homes. Delivering affordable housing quickly for the Californians that need it today is how we keep the promise of California For All, and make our State more Golden, by putting the California Dream within reach of every Californian.”
“Last year, even with its historic surplus, California only funded 16% of the affordable homes needed to match the gross imbalance in supply versus need,” said Matt Schwartz, president and chief executive officer, California Housing Partnership. “While recent investments have been increasing, a birds-eye view of our state’s poor track record over decades shows that the Governor’s administration needs to double down now on successful programs, like the California Housing Accelerator, while numerous approved and shovel-ready affordable housing units sit backlogged in a financing bottleneck. 14,000 more affordable homes could be brought to fruition with this impactful state investment.”
“Homelessness is solvable if we build enough deeply affordable homes,” said Tomiquia Moss, founder and chief executive officer, All Home. “Fully funding the pipeline of affordable homes is a no-brainer, but to really address homelessness we need to get many more homes that are affordable to households with extremely low incomes into that pipeline. That's the big gap within the housing gap.”
“Our state has always been on the cutting edge of innovation. We now have an opportunity to expand upon one of the state’s recent innovations that we already know is working,” said Jimar Wilson, vice president and Southern California market leader, Enterprise Community Partners. “Let’s optimize this rare chance to have the Accelerator Fund double its impact with shovel-ready affordable homes throughout California.”
“So many of our neighbors are close to losing their homes and so many people have fallen into homelessness, becoming neighbors desperate on the streets,” said Heather Hood, vice president and Northern California market leader, Enterprise Community Partners. “With funds finally available, how could we not use them to create the affordable homes ready to be built?”
About Enterprise Community Partners
Enterprise is a national nonprofit that exists to make a good home possible for the millions of families without one. We support community development organizations on the ground, aggregate and invest capital for impact, advance housing policy at every level of government, and build and manage communities ourselves. Since 1982, we have invested $54 billion and created 873,000 homes across all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico – all to make home and community places of pride, power and belonging. Join us at enterprisecommunity.org.
About the California Housing Partnership
The California Housing Partnership creates and preserves affordable and sustainable homes for Californians with low incomes by providing expert financial and policy solutions to nonprofit and public partners. Since 1988, the Partnership's on-the-ground technical assistance, applied research, and legislative leadership has leveraged $30 billion in private and public financing to preserve and create more than 85,000 affordable homes. | chpc.net
About All Home
All Home is a Bay Area organization that advances regional solutions that will disrupt the cycle of poverty and homelessness, redress the disparities in outcomes as a result of race, and create more opportunity for economic mobility for individuals and families with extremely low-incomes in the Bay Area.
About Housing California
Housing California brings together a diverse, multi-sector network to prevent and end homelessness, increase the supply of safe, stable, affordable housing options, and reverse the legacy of racial and economic injustice by building power among the people most impacted by housing injustice, shaping the narrative, and advocating for statewide policy solutions.
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