BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1672
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Date of Hearing: May 9, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 1672 (Torres) - As Amended: April 17, 2012
Policy Committee: Housing and
Community Development Vote: 4-2
Water, Parks and Wildlife 9-3
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill makes changes to the Housing-Related Parks Program
(HRP), administered by the Department of Housing and Community
Development (HCD). Specifically, this bill:
1)Specifies that HCD will award grants to cities and counties
under HRP based upon the issuance of building permits for new
housing units that are affordable to low- or very low-income
households.
2)Deletes the requirement that funds be disbursed upon
documentation of a certificate of occupancy, final inspection,
or other comparable local approval.
3)Authorizes HCD to award bonus funds for qualifying units
located within the boundaries of a catalyst project and when a
jurisdiction can demonstrate that grant funds will be spent to
create or improve a park or community recreation facility
located within the boundaries of a catalyst project.
FISCAL EFFECT
Minor and absorbable costs to HCD.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose. The author introduced this bill to simplify the
application process for HRP grants to local cities and
counties that approve affordable housing units and to enable
jurisdictions to receive their grant funds sooner. According
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to the author, the current program ties park grants to the
number of affordable housing starts in a community in a given
year, which prevents a jurisdiction from receiving the grant
funds awarded until construction is complete.
The author argues the original intent of the law was to
encourage communities to approve and construct affordable
housing units by awarding them with park grants for the
community. The author and supporters of this bill believe the
economic downturn has had the effect of delaying delivery of
park funds to communities that have approved building permits
for affordable housing projects, based on a construction
timeline they have no ability to control.
2)Support. The League of California Cities believes that the
changes proposed in this bill keep the intended purpose of the
voter-approved grant intact, by rewarding communities working
to increase their affordable housing while recognizing that
once a permit is issued by a local government, some projects
are not completed for reasons outside the local jurisdiction's
control. The City of Ventura similarly notes that due to the
stagnant nature of the housing market and the loss of
development funds, there have been very limited opportunities
for new housing projects. They believe that small changes to
the HRP as proposed by this bill could increase the number of
eligible applicants and increase the number of awards for the
creation and renovation of park facilities.
3)Background. Proposition 1C, the Housing and Emergency Trust
Fund Act of 2006, provided $200 million in funding for
housing-related parks, funding the HRP which provides grants
to local governments for park and recreation facilities.
Grant awards are based on the number of affordable housing
units that are started in community in a given year. The
program is not competitive; grants are awarded to all local
governments that apply that meet the program's requirements in
a given year. Awards are calculated on a per-bedroom basis,
with a base award of $500 per bedroom for low-income units and
$750 per bedroom for very low-income units.
4)Program administration. Relatively little of the bond funds
originally authorized for this program have been awarded.
After the first notice of funding availability in 2011, only
$8.8 million of the $25 million made available was awarded to
23 jurisdictions. This year the notice of funding
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availability for the balance of the $25 million available this
year closed on March 31, 2012. HCD is still reviewing the
applications received but based on preliminary reviews
believes that with the eligible applications received, and the
award of bonus funds, the balance of the $25 million will be
awarded. That leaves approximately $160 million of the funds
originally authorized still unspent.
Analysis Prepared by : Roger Dunstan / APPR. / (916) 319-2081