“Every eight years, state housing regulators give cities and counties across California an especially dreaded homework assignment: Make a plan for a bunch of new homes,” according to an August 11 article  by CalMatters, a nonpartisan and nonprofit news organization.

Toward that end, the Governor’s office provides goals for cities and counties to hit to reduce their shortages of affordable housing.  

CalMatters investigated how well the communities were doing at these efforts and its conclusion was “Bad news, California. If this were graded, the state would abound in D’s and F’s. As the piece explains, “few California cities and counties are on track to hit (the) state-set housing target, no matter the affordability level.”

This doesn’t mean that these communities don’t have plans in place. Most cities and counties do.

But while planning is an essential first step, actually achieving goals is another thing entirely. As the article explains, “For anyone who has been monitoring the pace of new residential development in California over the last half century, the disconnect between housing planned and housing permitted won’t come as a surprise.”

The target is ambitious. Nearly 2.5 million units over eight years. Even that is less than the 3.5 million target that Gov. Gavin Newsom set before his election in 2018.

CalMatters point out that while missed targets are highly disappointing, “critics of the state’s planning process have long stressed that California’s targets are unrealistic.”

What’s more, blaming the localities themselves is not entirely fair. The piece quotes Jason Rhine, a lobbyist with the League of California Cities as saying that “Cities cannot require developers to develop and cities don’t build housing. “You can lead a developer to a rezoned plot of land, in other words, but you can’t make them build.”

There’s yet another hurdle slowing the march toward more affordable housing, according to the article, and that’s lack of public money. As CalMatters points out, “With very few exceptions, building homes that are affordable to those making below average incomes in California requires public subsidies, philanthropic capital or other lenders and investors willing to take a loss.

“Taxpayer support provided by the state has been in short supply after a voter-approved bond from 2018 that provided funding for California’s signature affordable development subsidy ran dry.  That explains why the affordable production numbers are so much lower.” 

There may be some hope in sight on this front: In November, Californians will have the chance to back an $11.25 billion bond issue to Affordable developers and other housing advocates are hoping voters will back an $11.5 bond issue in November to provide additional funds to help with housing.

#StateandLocalManagement #StateandLocalGovernmentPerformance #StateandLocalAffordableHousing #StateandLocalHousingShortage #StateandLocalAffordableHousingManagement #StateandLocalAffordableHousingPerformance #CaliforniaHousingShortage #CaliforniaHousingShortageManagement #CaliforniaAffordableHousingPlans #CaliforniaAffordableHousingPerformance #CaliforniaMissedHousingTargets #CalMatters #LeagueOfCaliforniaCities #StateandLocalManagementNews #StateandLocalHousingNews #BarrettandGreeneInc