BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1413|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 1413
Author: Leno (D), et al.
Amended: 6/16/16
Vote: 21
SENATE TRANS. & HOUSING COMMITTEE: 9-0, 4/26/16
AYES: Beall, Allen, Gaines, Galgiani, Leyva, McGuire, Mendoza,
Roth, Wieckowski
NO VOTE RECORDED: Cannella, Bates
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 5-2, 5/27/16
AYES: Lara, Beall, Hill, McGuire, Mendoza
NOES: Bates, Nielsen
SENATE FLOOR: 29-7, 5/31/16
AYES: Allen, Beall, Block, Cannella, De León, Gaines,
Galgiani, Glazer, Hall, Hancock, Hernandez, Hertzberg, Hill,
Hueso, Jackson, Lara, Leno, Leyva, Liu, McGuire, Mendoza,
Mitchell, Monning, Nguyen, Pan, Pavley, Roth, Wieckowski, Wolk
NOES: Anderson, Bates, Berryhill, Huff, Morrell, Stone, Vidak
NO VOTE RECORDED: Fuller, Moorlach, Nielsen, Runner
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 62-18, 8/24/16 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: School districts: employee housing
SOURCE: Mayor Ed Lee, City and County of San Francisco
DIGEST: This bill establishes the Teacher Housing Act of 2016
and provides that a school district may establish and implement
programs that address the housing needs of teachers and school
district employees who face challenges in securing affordable
housing.
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Assembly Amendments make technical changes, including a code
reference correction.
ANALYSIS: Existing federal law 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:
1)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 and the LIHTC Program administered by
the Tax Credit Allocation Committee within the State
Treasurer's Office, to help low-income families and other
specified groups.
2)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.
This bill:
1)Establishes the Teacher Housing Act of 2016 to facilitate the
acquisition, construction, rehabilitation, and preservation of
affordable rental housing for teachers and school district
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employees to allow teachers or school district employees to
access and maintain housing stability.
2)Defines "affordable rental housing" as a rental housing
development with a majority of its rents restricted to levels
that are affordable to persons and families of low or moderate
income, but neither definition is restrictive to only projects
with five or more units as required under existing law.
3)Defines "teacher or school district employee" as any person
employed by:
a) A unified school district maintaining pre-kindergarten,
transitional kindergarten, and grades 1 to 12
b) An elementary school district maintaining
pre-kindergarten, transitional kindergarten, and grades 1
to 8
c) A high school district maintaining grades 9 to 12,
inclusive of, but not limited to, certificated and
classified staff
4)Provides that a school district may establish and implement
programs that address the housing needs of teachers and school
district employees who face challenges in securing affordable
housing. To the extent feasible, the school district may
establish and implement programs that, among other things, do
the following:
a) Leverage federal, state, and local public, private, and
nonprofit programs and fiscal resources.
b) Promote public and private partnerships.
c) Foster innovative financing opportunities.
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d) Dedicate school district-owned land to the development
of affordable rental housing and restrict occupancy to
teachers and school district employees.
5)Creates, specifically, a state policy supporting housing for
teachers and school district employees, pursuant to the IRS
code, and permits school districts and developers in receipt
of local or state funds 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.
Comments
1)Purpose. According to the author, California places a high
value on its public education system, and the stability of
housing for school employees is critical to the overall
success and stability of each school in California. Students
and the community at large are benefitted by teachers living
in the community in which they practice their profession. It
ensures stability, community involvement, and stronger ties
between teachers and their students and families. Lack of
affordable housing creates barriers to effective teaching and
teacher retention, and the combination of teacher and housing
shortages demands innovative solutions. Twenty-five percent
of teachers nationwide point to housing incentives as an
important factor in their decision to return to teaching.
While there are programs in many communities to help people
find and attain affordable housing, middle-class earners like
teachers do not always qualify for them. This bill
underscores the critical role that teachers and other
education professionals play in the long-term success of our
state by allowing for the development of specific housing to
keep these hard-working professionals in our communities and
our schools. This bill provides clear authorization to school
districts to develop housing on district-owned property, which
will enable the districts facing the most acute teacher
shortages to directly address the lack of affordable housing
that is forcing teachers out of our communities and out of a
vital profession. Investors require clear state law before
getting on board with new and innovative projects, especially
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in an area as expensive as San Francisco. Unlike the higher
education code, which covers faculty housing in detail, K-12's
silence on this issue is a cause for great concern for
financial markets when facing a decision of whether to embark
upon multi-billion dollar housing projects.
2)Necessary state authority. According to the source, Mayor Ed
Lee of the City and County of San Francisco, express state
statutory authority is necessary to permit school districts to
construct teacher-only housing on their property. Developers
are not permitted to use federal LIHTCs for these projects
because these projects are not available to the general
public. Because state credits can only be awarded to projects
that receive federal credits, state LIHTCs also cannot be used
to fund teacher-only housing.
By declaring a state policy supporting housing for
teachers/school district employees, these housing projects
could qualify under federal law as general public housing and
therefore be eligible for both federal and state LIHTCs.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:NoLocal: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, 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
SUPPORT: (Verified8/24/16)
Mayor Ed Lee, City and County of San Francisco (source)
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American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
California Apartment Association
California Federation of Teachers
California Teachers Association
Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California
San Francisco Unified School District
OPPOSITION: (Verified8/24/16)
None received
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 62-18, 8/24/16
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Arambula, Atkins, Baker, Bloom,
Bonilla, Bonta, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau,
Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Daly, Dodd, Eggman,
Frazier, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson,
Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Hadley, Roger Hernández,
Holden, Irwin, Jones-Sawyer, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez,
Low, Maienschein, McCarty, Medina, Mullin, Nazarian,
O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez,
Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Weber,
Williams, Wood, Rendon
NOES: Travis Allen, Bigelow, Brough, Chávez, Dahle, Beth
Gaines, Gallagher, Grove, Harper, Jones, Kim, Mathis, Mayes,
Melendez, Obernolte, Wagner, Waldron, Wilk
Prepared by:Alison Dinmore / T. & H. / (916) 651-4121
8/25/16 17:37:23
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