HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 02122002 - C34 M1p yip :.r:� r CONTRA
TO: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS }: � COSTA
FROM: John Sweeten, County Administrator COUNTY
DATE: February 12, 2002 . +"
SUBJECT: AB 1170 (Firebaugh) -- Support If Amended
SPECIFIC REQUEST(S) OR RECOMMENDATIONS) & BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION
RECOMMENDATION(St:
SUPPORT AB 1170(Firebaugh) which establishes, but does not fund, a program to provide down-
payment assistance to low or moderate income first-time homebuyers IF AMENDED to expand the
eligibility criteria for county grants to include infill projects within unincorporated urban areas.
BACK R UND/R SONS FOR RECOMMENDATI N S :
The County's 2002 Legislative Program includes the follow platform position:
Support efforts to expand the availability of affordable housing. . . .
AB 1170 (Firebaugh) would create the Building Equity and Growth in Neighborhoods (BEGIN) fund
from which the State Housing and Community Development Department would make grants to cities
and counties for down-payment assistance to qualifying low or moderate income first-time
homebuyers. Eligibility for these grants is conditional upon the local jurisdiction demonstrating that it
has removed barriers to affordable housing, one of which is "the project for which an application has
been made is an infill project within city limits and is substantially surrounded by urban uses." Staff
recommends expanding the locational requirement to include urbanized unincorporated" areas to
recognize the opportunities for infill in urbanized county areas of Contra Costa County. Under the
current bill language, projects in Contra Costa would still qualify for grants using the other eligibility
criteria. However, if the grant process is competitive, limiting the projects to within city limits would
put the County at a disadvantage.
CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: —YES SIGNATURE:
RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR—RECOMMENDATION OF RD COMMITTEE
--,eO1'PPROVE OTHER
SIGNATURE(S):
ACTION OF BOAR N e APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED-X_OTHER
VOTE OF SUPERVISORS
I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS 15 A
.._UNANIMOUS(ABSENT . Nrrng 1 TRUE AND CORRECT COPY OF AN
AYES: NOES: ACTION TAKEN AND ENTERED
ABSENT;_ _ ABSTAIN: ON MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF
SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN.
Contact:
Sara Hoffman,335-1090 ATTESTED February 4, 2002
JOHN SWEETEN,CLERK OF
THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
cc: CAO
AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR
Dennis Barry,Community Development6a"
Maureen Toms,Community Development BY DEPUTY
JIM Kennedy,Redevelopment
County Lobbyist
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JANUARY 22, 2002
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 2, 2001
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 18, 2001
CALIFCORNIA.LEGISLATURE-2001-02 REGULAR SESSION
ASSEMBLY BILL No. 1170
Introduced by Assembly Member Firebaugh
February 23, 2001
An act to add Chapter 14.5 (commencing with Section 50860)to Dart
2 of Division 31 of the health and Safety Code,relating to housing,and
making an appropriation therefor.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL"S DIGEST
AB 1170, as amended, Firebaugh. Housing: downpayment
assistance.
Existing law requires the Department of Housing and Community
Development, the California Housing Finance Agency, and various
other state and local agencies to administer programs to provide
affordable housing through incentives to developers, rental housing
assistance, and loans or grants for downpayment, interest subsidy,
relocation,veterans, and other home purchase assistance.Existing law
requires the housing element of a local general plan to identify adequate
sites for affordable housing to be made available through appropriate
zoning and development standards,including those relating to density.
This bill would create the Building Equity and Growth in
Neighborhoods Fund and would continuously appropriate without
regard to fiscal years any money in the fund to the department for grants
to cities, counties, and cities and counties for assistance for
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AB 1170 —2—
downpayment to qualifying new home buyers in those cities, counties,
and cities and counties in specified areas that have taken prescribed
actions to remove barriers to affordable housing.
This bill would , state that the act shall be
implemented when fiends are transferred to that fund from the General
Fund for the purposes of the bill.
Vote:2/3.Appropriation:yes. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated
local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows;
1 SECTION 1. (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the
2 following:
3 (1) Homeownership is a vital piece of California's social and
4 economic fabric and remains a top priority for new California
5 families and individuals.
6 (2) Homeownership has been shown to reduce crime, while
7 increasing school retention and graduation, civic engagement,
8 children's future earning potential, and overall life satisfaction.
9 (3) Home equity represents two-thirds of all low-income
10 family wealth. The median wealth of none.lderly low-income
11 homeowners is 12 times greater than the median wealth of similar
12 renters with the same income.
13 (4) -Yet, while more Americans (67 percent) own their homes
14 today than in any time in American history, homeownership in
15 California lags well behind the rest of the nation at 56 percent.
16 (5) The homeownership rate in California is even worse for
17 ethnic minorities.According to the California Budget Project,the
18 rate of homeownership among Latino households is only 42
19 percent and only 40 percent among African-American households
20 in the state.
21 (6) The high cost of building homes in California is a key
22 contributor to the state's low homeownership rate. Today,
23 California has nine of the nation's 10 least affordable housing
24 markets.
25 (7) Hoene prices are so high in California that the average
26 newly formed household would have to nearly double its income
27 to qualify to buy a median-priced home.
28 (8) While land prices in California are a key contributor to the
29 state's low housing affordability, permitting and regulatory cost
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-3— AB 1170
1 add significant costs to new housing construction:. According to a
2 recent study by Northwestern University, permitting and
3 regulatory costs in a San Diego County community add, on
4 average,more than$96,000 to the price of a new home.
5 (9) According to the National Association of Home Builders
6 (NAHB), even a small cost increase has a significant impact on
7 affordability. An NAHB study shows that every $1,000 added to
8 the price of a moderately priced home disqualifies as many as
9 49,000 California households from becoming homebuyers.
10 (b) The Legislature further finds and declares that a
11 combination of lowering regulatory costs and increasing
12 purchasing power for love- and moderate-income households,
13 primarily through downpayment assistance, will significantly
14 increase homeownership rates in California.
15 SEC. 2. Chapter 14.5 (commencing with Section 50860) is
16 added to fart 2 of Division 31 of the Health and Safety Code, to
17 read:
18
19 CHAPTER 14.5. BUILDING EQUITY AND GROWTH IN
20 NEIGHBORHOODs FUND
21
22 50860. (a) The Building Equity and Growth in
23 Neighborhoods (BEGIN) Fund is hereby created in the State
24 Treasury under the direction and control of the department.
25 Notwithstanding Section 13340 of the Government Code, all
26 money deposited in that fund from any source whatsoever is
27 hereby continuously appropriated without regard to fiscal years to
28 the department for expenditure pursuant to this chapter.
29 (b) From the fund, the department may make grants to
30 qualifying cities,counties,or cities and counties for downpayment
31 purposes to qualifying new homebuyers.
32 50861. The department shall issue a notification to all cities,
33 counties, or cities and counties when funds are available for the
34 BEGIN program.A city,county,or city and county that desires to
35 receive a grant from the BEGIN Fund may apply to the
36 department. The application shall include a copy of the program
37 adopted by the city,county,or city and county pursuant to Section
38 50863. In addition,in order to qualify for funding,the city,county,
39 or city and county shall be located in one of the following areas:
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AB 1170 —4-
1
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1 (a) The Los Angeles and Long Beach metropolitan statistical
2 area.
3 (b) The Orange County metropolitan statistical area.
4 (c) The San Diego County metropolitan statistical area.
5 (d) The San Francisco metropolitan statistical area.
6 (e) The Oakland metropolitan statistical area.
7 (f) The San Jose metropolitan statistical area.
8 (g) The Sacramento metropolitan statistical area.
9 (h) The Fresno metropolitan statistical area.
10 (i) The Modesto metropolitan statistical area.
11 50862. A city,county,or city and county that receives a grant
12 from the BEGIN Fund shall use at least 95 percent of the grant for
13 downpayment assistance to a prospective new homebuyer who
14 qualifies as a person or family of low- or moderate-income, as
15 defined in Section 50093. Any residence assisted with
16 downpayment financing provided by the BEGIN Fund shall be
17 continuously occupied by the grantee homebuyer as his or her
18 principal residence for at least five years following recordation of
19 the deed of trust. If the grantee fails to meet this condition, the
20 grant amount shall become immediately due and payable to the
21 granting city, county, or city and county.
22 50863. Grants shall only be made to a qualifying city,county,
23 or city and county that has demonstrated that it has removed
24 barriers to affordable housing through any or all of the following
25 measures:
26 (a) Zoning land for the project for which the application was
27 made at densities equal to or greater than 30 percent higher than
28 the average density of the city, county, or city and county.
29 (b) Designing the project for which the application was made
30 for efficient land use through any measures that may be
31 practicable, including, but not limited to, the following:
32 (1) Clustered housing with shared walls,reduced sideyards or
33 zero lot lines.
34 (2) Tandem parking.
35 (3) Reduced street widths and rolled curbs.
36 (c) Streamlining the local permitting process for the project in
37 ways that include,but are not limited to, combining entitlement
38 hearings, such as a hearing for a conditional use permit together
39 with a hearing for a variance permit.
40 (d) Reducing impact fees for the project by at least 25 percent.
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-5— AB 1170
1 (e) The project for which an application has been made is an
2 infill project within city limits and is substantially surrounded by
3 urban uses.
4 50864. The department shall adopt regulations that establish
5 the application procedures. The regulations shall prioritize and
6 quantify the criteria in Section 50863 by assigning points to each
7 of the criteria. Applications of a city, county, or city and county
8 that has a housing element that the department has found
9 substantially complies with the requirements of Article 10.6
10 (commencing with Section 65580) of Chapter 3 of Division 1. of
11 Title 7 of the Government Code shall receive additional points,not
12 exceeding the points granted for any one of the criteria in Section
13 50863.
14
,
15 hereby
16 SEC. 3. This act shall be implemented when funds are
17 transferred from the General Fund to the Building Equity and
18 Growth in Neighborhoods Fund created by Section 50860 of the
19 Health and Safety Code.
O
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