SEC. 2.
The Legislature finds and declares that having a healthy housing market that provides an adequate supply of homes affordable to Californians at all income levels is critical to the economic prosperity and quality of life in the state. The Legislature further finds and declares all of the following:(a) Funding approved by the state’s voters in 2002 and 2006, as of June 2011, has financed the construction, rehabilitation, and preservation of over 11,600 shelter spaces and 57,220 affordable apartments, including 2,500 supportive homes for people experiencing homelessness. In addition, these funds have helped 57,290 families become or remain homeowners. Nearly all of the voter-approved funding for affordable housing was awarded by the beginning of 2012.
(b) The requirement in the Community Redevelopment Law that redevelopment agencies set aside 20 percent of tax increment for affordable housing generated roughly one billion dollars ($1,000,000,000) per year. With the elimination of redevelopment agencies, this funding stream has disappeared.
(c) California has 12 percent of the United States population, but 21.4 percent of its homeless population. Seventy-three percent of people experiencing homelessness in California fell into it because they could not afford a place to live. Sixty-two percent of homeless Californians are unsheltered, 14 percent are veterans, and 20 percent are families.
(d) Furthermore, 4 of the top 10 metropolitan areas in the country for homeless are in the following metropolitan areas in California: San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, Fresno, and Stockton.
(e) California continues to have the second lowest homeownership rate in the nation, and minimum wage earners have to work 120 hours per week to afford the average two-bedroom apartment.
(f) Millions of Californians are affected by the state’s chronic housing shortage, including seniors, veterans, people experiencing chronic homelessness, working families, people with mental, physical, or developmental disabilities, agricultural workers, people exiting jails, prisons, and other state institutions, survivors of domestic violence, and former foster and transition-aged youth.
(g) While the current credit and foreclosure crisis has resulted in reductions in home prices in some areas, it has increased pressure on the rental housing market and slowed new housing production of all types, exacerbating the mismatch between the ever-increasing number of households that need housing they can afford and the supply.
(h) Seven of the top 10 hardest hit cities by the foreclosure crisis in the nation were in California. They include Stockton, Modesto, Vallejo, Riverside-San Bernardino, Merced, Bakersfield, and Sacramento.
(i) California’s workforce continues to experience longer commute times as persons in the workforce seek affordable housing outside the areas in which they work. If California is unable to support the construction of affordable housing in these areas, congestion problems will strain the state’s transportation system and exacerbate greenhouse gas emissions.
(j) Many economists agree that the state’s higher than average unemployment rate is due in large part to massive shrinkage in the construction industry from 2005 to 2009, including losses of nearly 700,000 construction-related jobs, a 60-percent decline in construction spending, and an 83-percent reduction in residential permits. Restoration of a healthy construction sector will significantly reduce the state’s unemployment rate.
(k) The lack of sufficient housing impedes economic growth and development by making it difficult for California employers to attract and retain employees.
(l) To keep pace with continuing demand, the state should identify and establish a permanent, ongoing source or sources of funding dedicated to affordable housing development. Without a reliable source of funding for housing affordable to the state’s workforce and most vulnerable residents, the state and its local and private housing development partners will not be able to continue increasing the supply of housing after existing housing bond resources are depleted.
(m) The investment will leverage billions of dollars in private investment, lessen demands on law enforcement and dwindling health care resources as fewer people are forced to live on the streets or in dangerous substandard buildings, and increase businesses’ ability to attract and retain skilled workers.
(n) In order to promote housing and homeownership opportunities, the recording fee imposed by this act should not be applied to any recordings made in connection with a sale of real property. Purchasing housing is likely the largest purchase made by Californians, and it is the intent of this act not to increase transaction costs associated with these transfers.