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Since 2020, the additional $500 million per year in state Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (Housing Credits) approved by Governor Newsom and the Legislature have provided the final gap financing to bring more than 25,000 new affordable homes to fruition. Moreover, these state Housing Credits have allowed California to access roughly $2 billion in federal Housing Credits that otherwise would have been unclaimed and lost to California.
In spite of this resounding success and with demand for state Housing Credits exceeding supply by more than two-to-one each year, unlike almost all other tax credits this critical resource remains subject to yearly appropriation in the budget. This means that any time the state faces a deficit or hard choices, the state Housing Credit becomes the first choice for budget cuts. It is no wonder that affordable housing providers say they cannot adequately plan to increase supply when the funding of this critical resource can vary from year to year without any certainty or warning.
Thankfully, Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel, Chair of the Budget Committee, has introduced AB 3160 to make the $500 million annual addition to state Housing Credits permanent. Based on the average state Housing Credit award over the prior four years, making the state Housing Credit permanent should result in an additional 6,400 affordable homes annually, effectively increasing statewide production by a third.
We urge you to support Assemblymember Gabriel’s bold response to the affordable housing crisis by registering your organization’s support today here.
For fact sheets on AB 3160 and other CHPC sponsored bills, please visit the Partnership’s State Advocacy webpage.
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