Bills in the House and Senate in Washington DC:

* HR4351 – Yes in My Backyard Ace: This bill requires certain Community Development Block Grant program recipients to submit to the Department of Housing and Community Development information regarding their implementation of certain land-use policies (e.g., policies for reducing minimum lot size).

* HR4739 – This bill requires the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to make grants to eligible entities that provide legal services to homeless veterans and veterans at risk for homelessness. To be eligible, an entity must (1) be a public or nonprofit private entity with the capacity to effectively administer a grant, (2) demonstrate that adequate financial support will be available to provide legal services to homeless veterans and veterans at risk for homelessness, and (3) agree to meet the VA’s established requirements and demonstrate a capacity to meet such requirements. The bill requires the VA to (1) use a specified portion of the grants to provide legal services to women veterans, and (2) report on areas where VA programs are failing to meet the needs of women veterans who are homeless.

Bills in Sacramento under consideration:

SCANPH supports the following:

* AB2058 – The Affordable Housing Preservation Tax Credit (AHPTC) bill to incentivize the preservation of existing affordable apartment properties and mobile-home parks.

* AB1845 creates an Office to End Homelessness and will be overseen by a Secretary on Housing Insecurity and Homelessness.

* AB1907 would provide a California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) exemption for affordable housing funded by certain programs, supportive housing and emergency shelters.

* AB2329 would require the State to assess needs and gaps in state programs addressing homelessness.

* SB282 would redirect funding from the Integrated Services for Mentally Ill Parolee program (ISMIP) to the Department of Housing and Community Development to provide grants to counties for supportive housing.

* AB1279 designates areas in the state as high-resources areas by 1/1/2021 and every 5 years thereafter. In areas designated as high-resource developers the bill would make a housing development a use-by-right upon the request of the developer provided the housing project meets specified affordability requirements.

CTCAC and CDLAC:

* Timing of CDLAC and TCAC Applications – TCAC regulations allow competitive 4% plus state credit projects applying in TCAC competitive rounds to apply for tax-exempt bonds through CDLAC after a TCAC award has been made. This practice was instituted in the past under a non-competitive CDLAC application process to reduce unnecessary CDLAC application preparation for projects unsuccessful in the TCAC competition. Now, in 2020, CDLAC bonds are being allocated under a competitive system with a reduced number of application cycles. As a result, 4% plus state credit projects applying in TCAC competitive rounds do not have the option to wait to apply to CDLAC until after a TCAC award because awarded TCAC projects are required to receive a bond allocation within 90 days of receiving a TCAC reservation (TCAC Reg. Section 10326(j)(1)). Due to this requirement, TCAC staff recommends that all developers apply for a CDLAC bond allocation by April 17, 2020 for a July 15, 2020 allocation date in order to meet the 90 day bond issuance requirement. The next CDLAC application date after the June 17 TCAC award date is August 21 for an October 21, 2020 CDLAC meeting date, which is beyond this 90 day requirement.

* Excel Application Notice – Effective for 2020, TCAC reduced the minimum point requirements for competitive 4% plus state credit projects applying in TCAC competitive rounds. The lowest income point category was reduced from 52 to 32 points, and the sustainable building point category was eliminated. The 2020 4% Competitive Tax-Exempt Bond Application Combining Federal and State Tax Credits contains an outdated reference to the sustainable building method point category in the summary table. Please disregard this reference.

* Disaster Credits Update – The Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020 (FCAA) provided TCAC with additional 9% credits totaling $98.6 million. The disaster areas defined in the FCAA are located in 13 of California’s 58 counties: Butte, Lake, Los Angeles, Mendocino, Napa, Nevada, Orange, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Shasta, Sonoma, Ventura, and Yuba. TCAC will be making these disaster credits available for applications beginning in the second round of 2020 (application deadline July 1, 2020). Initial proposed regulations were circulated for comment from January 22 to February 12. Public comments regarding the proposed regulation changes are being reviewed, and TCAC staff plans to publish revised regulation proposals within the next month and expects to make the disaster credits available in 2020 and 2021 to the 13 counties where the disasters occurred.

* Opportunity Maps Update – The 2019 Opportunity Maps were re-adopted by the Committee for 2020 and are the maps in effect for all 2020 applications submitted until further notice. TCAC published the draft 2020 Opportunity Maps and corresponding regulation changes for public comment, but they will not be adopted prior to the March 9, 2020 First Round deadline and therefore not in effect for the first competitive round.  Consistent with TCAC regulations, an applicant may choose to utilize the census tract resource designation from the Opportunity Maps in effect when the initial site control was obtained up to seven calendar years prior to the application.

For more information about the bills and procedures mentioned above, please visit our website: TCAC@treasurer.ca.gov

– As of March 1, 2020, the CPD Funding Matrix and Dashboard Reports have been posted to HUD Exchange.

– HUD has issued new HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) and Housing Trust Fund (HTF) Homeownership Value Limits (“95% limits”) for 2020, which will take effect on April 1, 2020.

– HUD’s Office of Policy Development and Research (PD&R) invites submissions for a symposium in a future issue of Cityscape that will feature articles that address how communities have implemented strategies to reduce the regulatory barriers that drive up the cost of housing. Topics might include (but are not limited to):

• Quantifying the impact of regulations on housing price
• Impacts of zoning and design requirements on housing production
• Analyzing the effects of impact fees and taxes on housing supply
• Removing barriers to factory-built housing in rural and Tribal communities
• Code compliance and barriers to affordable housing development
• Streamlining the permitting and environmental review process
• Tracking accessory dwelling unit ordinances allowance across the U.S.
• Identifying and closing data gaps in the regulatory barriers scholarship

Please electronically submit an abstract describing your proposed paper to Regina Gray (Regina.C.Gray@hud.gov) by May 15, 2020. Each abstract will be subject to peer review. Authors of approved abstracts will be notified by June 15, 2020 and invited to submit full manuscripts by October 15, 2020. Authors will be responsible for addressing issues raised by the editors and/or reviewers by the designated deadline. Please direct questions or requests for additional information to Regina Gray.

View the Call for Papers for the Cityscape Symposium on Reducing Regulatory Barriers to Affordable Housing.