How Are California’s Funding Programs Progressing on Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing?

Between 2019 and 2021, the State of California adopted new policies to encourage production of family-serving affordable housing in “high-opportunity” neighborhoods with characteristics linked to upward mobility, college attendance, and other positive long-term outcomes for children. Historically, only a small share of family-serving affordable housing had been developed in these neighborhoods. 

These changes to the State’s affordable housing funding programs were an attempt to improve access to opportunity for families with children and address the persistent problem of residential segregation in California and to comply with state and federal affirmatively furthering fair housing (AFFH) mandates.

In this report, we document the degree of change in the location of family-serving affordable housing following the State’s adoption of “opportunity area incentives” in its funding programs. We find the following:

• The State has not yet made available the resources necessary for comprehensive, multi-sector investments in lower resource communities of color across programs and agencies as required to fulfill the "both and" approach of the law, nor has the state yet articulated a plan for doing so.

• The State has made meaningful if modest progress in the goal of increasing production of family-serving affordable housing in higher “resource” neighborhoods while lower resource communities continue to receive awards in proportion to their share of neighborhoods. 

• However, progress has been uneven across funding programs and geographies, suggesting the need for refinements in the State’s approach.

The analysis in this report provides evidence to support the following policy recommendations to strengthen the State’s approach to advancing AFFH objectives: 

Plan and fund comprehensive revitalization in conjunction with awards of affordable housing funding. The State should create a new program to support creation and implementation of comprehensive community development initiatives and direct the allocation of resources across agencies and departments so that awards from the new program can be at a large enough scale to achieve their purpose. Awards from the new program could be made in conjunction with affordable housing awards.  

Refine opportunity area incentives. To build on the progress it has made increasing family-serving affordable housing in higher resource neighborhoods, the State should consider strengthening the 9% Housing Credit incentives and exploring scoring and tie-breaker mechanisms to incentivize change in regions where it is lagging.

Ensure broad access to affordable housing in high resource areas. The State should take measures to ensure developments in higher resource areas are accessible to families across regions to ensure this housing is having the intended integrative effect. Solutions could include expanded use of online search and application systems; an assessment of the impact of live/work preference policies in higher resource jurisdictions; instituting a statewide occupancy preference for residents of high-poverty neighborhoods; and providing housing search assistance to families seeking affordable housing. 

For more information about the Partnership’s AFFH work, please reach out to Dan Rinzler, Associate Research Director, at drinzler@chpc.net 

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 $35 billion in private and public financing to preserve and create more than 93,000 affordable homes. 

Visit us at www.chpc.net.

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