January 11, 2019

In yesterday’s budget release, Governor Newsom proposed an additional $250 million for housing-related planning and revisions regional housing production targets, as well as $500 million in flexible incentive funding for jurisdictions that implement plans that successfully promote housing development.

The budget also included $500 million in funding to tackle homelessness, including $200 million in subventions to local continuums of care, and an expansion of the state’s affordable housing tax credit program. A full summary of the budget is available in yesterday’s CSAC Budget Action Bulletin.

While CSAC is opposed to the budget’s suggestion of linking the receipt of local transportation funding to private housing construction activity, we look forward to working with the Administration to provide resources and policy changes that support increased affordable and market-rate housing. There are solutions that can promote housing development without hindering the delivery of much-needed local road maintenance, bridge, safety, and active transportation projects.

Housing Planning Grants Available – Additional Housing Funding Proposed in Budget

The Department of Housing and Community Development this week issued final guidelines for housing planning grants funded by one-half of the first year of SB 2 (Atkins, 2017) document recording tax revenues.

Counties are encouraged to review the full guidelines, available below, and take advantage of technical assistance offered by the Department of Housing and Community Development.

The minimum grant amount is $25,000, with a sliding scale maximum amount based on jurisdiction size. The funding is highly flexible, and will be awarded in what is essentially an over-the-counter format. Eligible uses may include:

1. Updates to general plans, community plans, specific plans, local planning related to implementation of sustainable communities strategies, or local coastal plans;
2. Updates to zoning ordinances;
3. Environmental analyses that eliminate the need for project-specific review; and
4. Local process improvements that improve and expedite local planning.

Full guidelines are available here.