Title
Recommendation to Authorize the Mayor to Sign a Letter of Support for Assembly Bill (AB) 35 Providing Funding for Affordable Housing; and
Recommendation to Authorize the Mayor to Sign a Letter of Support for AB1335, Providing Funding for Affordable Housing. (Community Development 236)
Body
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: Elizabeth D. Warmerdam, Interim City Manager
Re: Recommendation to Authorize the Mayor to Sign Letters of Support for Assembly Bill (AB) 35 and AB1335, Providing Funding for Affordable Housing
BACKGROUND
Two pieces of State legislation have been recently introduced that are meant to provide significant new resources for the development of affordable and workforce housing. These are Assembly Bill (AB) 35 (co-sponsored by Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins and Assembly Member David Chiu) and AB 1335 (sponsored by Assembly Speaker Atkins).
Staff is requesting that the City Council authorize the Mayor to sign letters of support for this legislation. The draft letters are attached as Exhibit 1.
DISCUSSION
The primary obstacle to developing affordable and workforce housing in the state is the lack of funding resources. Due to the dissolution of redevelopment agencies, the City of Alameda has lost approximately $3 million per year in funds that were used for this purpose. The State periodically issues bonds that provide resources for affordable housing, but demand for the proceeds of these bonds has far outstripped supply. Similarly, the federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program (LIHTC) is typically oversubscribed by 3 to 1. That is the equivalent to only one of every three proposed affordable housing projects obtaining the tax credits. However, there are unused tax credits through the federal 4% tax credit program that could be made available for development through changes to the State law that governs the allocation of State credits. These two bills seek to address that allocation proce...
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