BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2388
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Date of Hearing: April 20, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
David Chiu, Chair
AB 2388
(Gipson) - As Amended April 4, 2016
SUBJECT: Local government: housing: ownership
SUMMARY: Requires the Department of Housing and Community
Development (HCD), in conjunction with the California Housing
Finance Agency (CalHFA) to report on ways to increase affordable
homeownership, and include the results of a survey of local
housing authorities as specified. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires HCD, in conjunction with the CalHFA, to report to the
Legislature, no later than January 1, 2018, on ways to
increase homeownership for extremely low, very low, and
low-income households.
2)Requires HCD and CalHFA, in preparing the report, to develop a
survey to gather information, including, but not limited to,
the following:
a. The number of housing authorities in California, and
the number of single-family properties owned by housing
authorities that are available for lease to extremely
low, very low, and low-income families.
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b. The number of single-family homes owned by housing
authorities in the last five years that were converted to
ownership, and the names and descriptions of the programs
through which the conversions were made.
c. The number of single-family homes that were
purchased by housing authorities using the federal
Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) funding.
d. The number of housing authorities that have a
Section 32 Homeownership Plan through the United States
Department of Housing and Urban Development.
e. The number of housing authorities that administer
the federal Family Self-Sufficiency Program.
3)Requires HCD and CalHFA to work with any applicable
association that represents housing authorities in California,
in order to obtain a successful response rate to the survey in
order to capture the most accurate information.
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4)Requires the report to also identify the following:
a. Barriers or impediments to transitioning into
homeownership for extremely low, very low, and low-income
people.
b. Using several case studies of local housing
authorities with successful homeownership programs,
potential best practices for other housing authorities to
follow.
c. Strategies to target extremely low-, very low, and
low-income persons for homeownership programs.
d. Funding programs for homeownership and other
opportunities to help transition low- and very-low income
people to homeownership.
5)Requires that the measure is repealed on January 1, 2022.
EXISTING LAW:
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1)Declares that the provision of safe and sanitary dwelling
accommodations for persons of low income are public uses and
purposes for which public money may be spent and private
property acquired and are governmental functions of state
concern. (Health & Safety Code 34201)
2)Provides for the creation of a housing authority in each local
jurisdiction (Health & Safety Code 34240).
3)Authorizes a housing authority to:
a. Prepare, carry out, acquire, lease, and operate
housing projects and housing developments for persons of
low income, as specified. (Health & Safety Code 34311)
b. Investigate into living, dwelling, and housing
conditions and into the means and methods of improving
such conditions.
c. Determine where slum areas exist or where there is a
shortage of decent, safe, and sanitary dwelling
accommodations for persons of low income.
d. Make studies and recommendations relating to the
problem of clearing, replanning, and reconstructing slum
areas, and the problem of providing dwelling
accommodations for persons of low income, and cooperate
with the city, the county, the State or any of its
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political subdivisions in action taken in connection with
such problems.
e. Engage in research, studies, and experimentation on
the subject of housing. (Health & Safety Code 34317)
4)Requires every housing authority to file on the first day of
October of each year with HCD a complete report of its
activities during the previous fiscal year, with
recommendations for needed legislation to carry on properly a
program of housing and community development in this state.
(Health & Safety Code 34328.1)
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
COMMENTS:
Background: California is facing a housing affordability crisis
on many fronts. According to the Public Policy Institute of
California (PPIC), as of February 2015, roughly 36% of mortgaged
homeowners and approximately 48% of all renters are spending
more than one-third of their household incomes on housing.
California continues to have the second lowest homeownership
rate in the nation and the Los Angeles metropolitan area is now
a majority renter region. In fact, five of the eight lowest
homeownership rates in the nation are in California metropolitan
areas.
California has 12% of the United States population, but 20% of
its homeless population - 63% of these homeless Californians are
unsheltered (the highest rate in the nation). At any given
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time, 134,000 Californians are homeless. California has 24% of
the nation's homeless veterans and one-third of the nation's
chronically homeless. The state also has the largest numbers of
unaccompanied homeless children and youth, with 30% of the
national total.
AB 2388 would gather information on the current housing
portfolio managed by housing authorities across the state and
solicit recommendations for programs and strategies that would
increase homeownership for low-income households.
Purpose of the bill: According to the author, AB 2388 will
"establish a comprehensive working group to further understand
the situation of affordable housing, mortgage down-payment
assistance and pathways to home ownership for low and moderate
income persons in California. The original intent of this bill
was to allow families in affordable housing the ability to
transition the home they lived in to a lease-to-own situation,
but we were unable to find a significant amount of data about
affordable housing portfolios and home ownership programs in
general. In a time where there is much debate about keeping
people afloat, we need to also understand how to lift them up
and out of poverty. California does not have all of this
information accessible in one place, and this working group will
enhance our collective understanding of the opportunities in
place for home ownership for low income people."
Arguments in support: According to the California Association
of Realtors "AB 2388 will help identify the barriers to
homeownership for extremely low-, very low-, and low-income
people, while also seeking to identify solutions that will help
more Californians to achieve the goal of home ownership."
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
AB 2388
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Support
California Association of Realtors
Opposition
None on File
Analysis Prepared by:Ken Spence / H. & C.D. / (916) 319-2085,
Lisa Engel / H. & C.D. / (961) 319-2085