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Home My WebLink AboutMINUTES - 04242001 - SD.7 CONTRA TO: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS COSTA COUNTY FROM: Gayle B. Uilkema Supervisor District II DATE: April 24, 2001 SUBJECT: Advocacy Services in Washington, D. C. SPECIFIC REQUEST(S) OR RECOMMENDATION(S) & BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION RECOMMENDATION(S): 1. ACKNOWLELDGE that federal legislation, regulation and funding have enormous impact on Contra Costa County's services, its citizens and businesses. 2. CONCUR on the need for federal action to address Contra Costa County's shortage of affordable housing. 3. DIRECT the County Administrator to prepare a Request-for-Proposals for advocacy services in Washington, D. C. to advance the County's interest in matters of local importance, including the supply of affordable housing. BACKGROUND/REASON(S) FOR RECOMMENDATION(S): Many California counties have a lobbying presence in Washington, D. C. Advocacy services can be very helpful in providing liaison with Members of Congress, the executive branch and federal departments; identifying funding opportunities for county programs; and lobbying on legislative and administrative proposals. As Contra Costa County has become increasingly dependent upon revenue from the state and federal governments for its operation, it seems clear that we, too, should have advocacy representation in Washington, D. C. CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: YES SIGNATURE: _ RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR—RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE APPROVE _OTHER SIGNATURE(S): ACTION OF BOARD ON APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED ELOTHER XX Following the Supervisors' discussion, the Board took the following action: APPROVED staff s recommendations as set forth above, and DIRECTED that the County Administrator's staff return.to the Board with a report on other counties' advocacy services. VOTE OF SUPERVISORS I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A _M_UNANIMOUS(ABSENT #4 ► 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: ATTESTED April 24, 2001 JOHN SWEETEN,CLERK OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS AND C U ADMINIST R cc: John,Sweeten,CAO q, BYXlq •l.�lJ DEPUTY BACKGROUND/REASON(S) FOR RECOMMENDATIONS (cont'd): At this time, I think that a primary issue of concern is the supply of affordable housing in the County (see attached issue paper). Fewer than. 15% of households in our County can afford a median- priced home. Many of our health and human service initiatives are stymied by the shortages of low- income housing:, including public housing and Section 8 units. Other issues of importance to the Board could also be included in the contract for advocacy services. Possibilities include transportation funding; public works projects (such as dredging of our inland waters); health care financing; funding for after school and child welfare programs; environmental health issues, especially as they affect the refineries; and justice issues, such as domestic violence and COPS. As a first start towards acquiring advocacy services, it would be appropriate for the County Administrator to issue a Request-for-Proposal that would outline the County's issues of concern. All proposals would be required to include a description of the respondent's background, current and previous clients, past successes on issues, respondents approach to fulfilling the responsibilities of the advocacy services, fees associated with fulfilling the RFP requirements and references. The final contract, including scope, would then be reviewed and approved by the Board of Supervisors. CALIFORNIA'S SHORTAGE OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING Fewer and fewer Californians can afford to buy either a single family home or a condominium. In October 2000 only 30% could afford a single family home and only 42% a condominium.' Nationally, 54% of households can afford a single family home. Affordability is particularly low in the urban counties (see attached chart). Low Home Ownership Rates California's home ownership rate is the second lowest in the nation. In California, 55.7% of households owned their own homes in 1999 compared to 66.8% nationally. Home ownership rates are down in almost all age groups except for senior households. Between 1979 and 1999, homeownership dropped from 31% to 18% for heads of households in their 20's and from 61% to 44% for persons in their 30's. Rental Housing Crisis Over 43% of all California households are renters. In 1997 nearly 25% in metropolitan area households (1.42 million) spent more than half of their income on rent. Two million spent more than the recommended 30% of their income toward shelter. Among low income renters, nearly 65% paid more than half their income and 86% spent more than 30% of their income. The situation has not improved in the last four years. The supply of affordable housing is insufficient to meet the demand. In 1997, the state's metropolitan areas needed another 684,000 units to meet the needs of low-income household renters (a gap of 2.1 to 1). Federal Housing Assistance Nationally, approximately 1 in 4 eligible households receive federal housing assistance. The proportion is even lower in California. California received fewer federal housing assistance dollars in 1999 f9r. each individual living 1 Percentage Of California Households That Can Afford To.Purchase A Median Priced Home: Source California Association of Realtor, December 7, 2000. 1 below the federal poverty level than all but one of the ten largest states. The federal government spent on average $286 on housing assistance per person in poverty. California received only $171 per person. Federally supported housing assistance is inadequate. A 2000 survey of 20 local housing authorities found 371,740 families on waiting lists for Section 8 assistance, more than three times the 104,133 families receiving assistance. In addition, 93,632 families were on wait lists for 25,268 units of public housing. The number of federally subsidized housing units is declining. Over the past three years, California lost more than 15,000 affordable housing units to op-outs and prepayments (11% of the total). Most of the losses occurred in Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego and Santa Clara counties. The State Department of Housing and Community Development estimates that more than 18,000 units may be at risk of conversion over the next decade. Federal Legislative Initiatives — CY 2000 Calendar year 2000 represented a major break through for Federal initiatives in the area of affordable housing. The Congress enacted, and the President signed legislation that increased the volume cap for Private Activity Bonds including Multi-Family Mortgage Revenue Bonds, and the Low Income Housing Tax Credit programs. In addition to increasing the volume cap the enacted 2000 legislation also indexed this cap into the future. The increase in this volume cap had been sought for at least 5 to 6 successive legislative sessions in the 1990's. The other major Federal initiative relates to increasing the appropriation for Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Funds and HOME Investment Partnership Funds. These two entitlement programs constitute the core piece of locally administered programs for affordable housing finance. The funds from these programs are used to provide subordinate loans to developers of affordable housing projects. The Congress did not take significant action in addressing these initiatives in 2000. 2 Suggested Federal Initiatives — CY 2001 It would be very helpful if federal legislative initiatives in 2001 build on prior year action on volume caps for private activity bonds and low-income housing tax credits. This could include: • Repeal (or extend) the 10-year rule that prohibits recycling of mortgage pre-payments received 10 years after the date of issuance of single-family mortgage revenue bonds. This relief would allow for the issuance of mortgage revenue bonds without utilizing the scarce volume cap that exists. • Provide an additional means for calculating purchase price limits using a multiple of the issuing jurisdiction's County median income. This would have the potential effect of providing an alternative means of calculating a purchase price limit that more directly relates to median income. The relationship between median income and purchase price limits has not always been one that made sense in the homebuyer market place. With respect to the HOME and CDBG area the initiatives that would be helpful include: • Appropriation of no less than $5.3 billion dollars for Community Development Block Grant Program, with no less than $4.6 million reserved for formula grants. This would represent a $200 million dollar increase over the prior fiscal year. • Eliminate/reduce HUD administered set asides within the Community Development Block Grant Program. Over the years, HUD has increased the Community Development Block Grant Program appropriations without increasing the entitlement grant component. HUD has instead created specific set aside initiatives that they administer directly that have caused the entitlement amounts to be flat and effectively reduced when inflationary considerations are accounted for. 3 • Significantly increase funding for the HOME Program, and make programmatic adjustments to direct $2 billion of extra funding to an entitlement rental housing production program. The ability to combine these funds with other Federal, State, and local funds needs to be enhanced from present conditions. This would result in an appropriation of $4 billion dollars for the HOME Investment Partnership Program of which $2 billion would be reserved for housing production. Other initiatives could include: • Adopt a homeless block grant that allocates 75% to cities/counties/consortia and 25% to states. • Appropriate at least $1.1 billion for the McKinney Act's Homeless Housing Program. • Increase the statutory FHA multi family insurance limits by 25%, and index them to increases in a construction cost index. • Fully fund expiring Section 8 project and tenant based Shelter-Plus Care, and Section 8 moderate rehabilitation rental subsidy contracts. Data Sources: May 2000 report of the California Budget Project entitled, "Locked Out — California Affordable Housing Crisis." December 7, 2000, California Association of Realtors press release. 4 0 O i CO s Q LOO lul O O N -- ------------ --- ^ _ o O .�..� 7p. caO0-01 0 M AMA 42 .� 4 IV N U to ` O L .... C1 a% c0 ca C >+ >+ ca ca O O O O a) cn ca ca O C E :3 cu N 0) c o c (D o LL LL E Lm L- ca c rn ca LLCO m m o o C/) O COJ O t ca c CO m rn (n Q (n o U a) s a L-Cl) o � o