BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
SB 1413 (Leno) - School districts: employee housing
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|Version: May 10, 2016 |Policy Vote: T. & H. 9 - 0 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: May 16, 2016 |Consultant: Jillian Kissee |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: This bill authorizes a school district to establish
and implement programs that address the housing needs of
teachers and school district employees who face challenges in
securing affordable housing.
Fiscal
Impact:
Cost pressure: To the extent this bill results in additional
affordable housing projects targeting teachers and school
personnel, greater demand would be placed on limited existing
housing resources leading to greater competition for receiving
certain financial benefits such as state low-income housing
tax credits. According to the State Treasurer's Office, state
credits are oversubscribed by roughly a 2 to 1 ratio.
Background: Existing federal law:
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Requires low-income housing tax credits (LIHTCs) to be
utilized for residential units that are for use by the
"general public." If a residential unit is provided only for
a member of a social organization or provided by an employer
for its employees, the unit is not for use by the general
public and not eligible for federal LIHTCs, and by extension,
state LIHTCs. A qualified low-income project does not fail to
meet the general-public use requirement solely because of
occupancy restrictions or preferences that favor, among other
things: members of a specified group under a federal program
or state program or policy that supports housing for a
specified group.
Existing state law:
Establishes various housing programs, such as the Multifamily
Housing Program and Joe Serna Jr. Farmworker Housing Grant
Program administered by the Department of Housing and
Community Development (HCD) and the Low-Income Housing Tax
Credit (LIHTC) Program administered by the Tax Credit
Allocation Committee (TCAC) within the State Treasurer's
Office, to help low-income families and other specified
groups.
Defines "rental housing development" as a structure or set of
structures with common financing, ownership, and management,
and which collectively contain five or more dwelling units,
including efficiency units. No more than one of the dwelling
units may be occupied as a primary residence by a person or
household who is the owner of the structure or structures.
Proposed Law:
This bill authorizes a school district to establish and
implement programs that address the housing needs of teachers
and school district employees who face challenges in securing
affordable housing. It provides that, to the extent feasible,
the school district may establish and implement programs that,
among other things, do the following:
Leverage federal, state, and local public, private, and
nonprofit programs and fiscal resources available to
housing developers.
Promote public and private partnerships.
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Foster innovative financing opportunities.
This bill also specifically creates a state policy supporting
housing for teachers and school district employees, pursuant to
federal law, and permits school districts and developers in
receipt of local or state funds or tax credits designated for
affordable rental housing to restrict occupancy to teachers and
school district employees on land owned by school districts, so
long as that housing does not violate any other applicable laws.
Related Legislation: AB 2200 (Thurmond) requires the California
Housing Finance Agency to administer a grant program to provide
development financing assistance to qualified school districts
for the creation of affordable rental housing for school
district employees, including teachers. AB 2200 includes a $100
million appropriation for this purpose.
Staff
Comments: The bill's declaration of a state policy supporting housing
for teachers and school district employees is intended to
satisfy a federal requirement that a project does not fail to
meet the general public use requirement to qualify for federal
low-income housing tax credit solely because of, among other
things, preferences that favor tenants who are members of a
state policy that supports housing for such a specified group.
A violation of this requirement also makes the housing project
ineligible for state-level tax credits, since state credits can
only be awarded to projects that receive federal credits. By
declaring a state policy supporting housing for teachers and
school district employees, these housing projects could qualify
under federal law as general public housing and therefore be
eligible for both federal and state tax credits.
According to the Senate Committee on Transportation and Housing,
investors require clear state law before getting on board with
new innovative projects and that the Education Code's silence on
K-12 housing is a cause for great concern for financial markets
when facing a decision of whether to embark upon multi-billion
dollar housing projects. By providing a clear authorization in
law, it would likely reduce the barriers for additional teacher
and school personnel housing projects to seek funding, such as
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San Francisco Unified School District. Though this may create a
state-level cost pressure, school districts and developers would
also likely leverage additional funding sources at the local
level. To the extent these housing projects are developed and
are able to fill occupancy with teachers, it could contribute to
increasing the teacher supply in the local area.
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