Via San Gabriel Valley Tribune Ryan Carter
BALDWIN PARK — Supporters on Tuesday, Aug. 17, rallied for a proposed new Los Angeles County agency that aims to bolster affordable and fair housing in the region, echoing other recent calls for such housing that have dotted the San Gabriel Valley.
Members of Our Future Coalition — which includes several advocacy groups including Active SGV and United Way Greater Los Angeles — took to the lawns outside of Baldwin Park City Hall to push for the passage of SB 679, authored by state Sen. Sydney Kamlager, D-Los Angeles.
The bill, awaiting an imminent vote on the Assembly floor (perhaps by the end of the month), would create a Los Angeles County Affordable Housing Solutions Agency — LACAHSA, known as “La Casa.” Advocates say the agency would bring new strategies, “unprecedented coordination,” transparency and increased funding for the creation of affordable housing.
As it stands, they add, the current system leaves it up to each of the county’s 88 cities to deal with affordable housing the way they see fit, creating a patchwork of measures, or none.
“This is an imperative for us, here in Los Angeles County,” said Anne Miskey, CEO of Union Station Homeless Services. “If we do that, then we can create housing.”
David Diaz, of Active SGV, spoke of a housing landscape shaped by gentrification and historical patterns of discriminatory housing that dotted Southland’s housing market.
“We believe that housing is a human right, and that everyone deserves access to a safe and affordable home … ,” and should have access to varied modes of mobility to get between home and work, Diaz said.
They highlighted the plight of many families in L.A. County, who live on the cusp of having no shelter.
The rally arrived against the backdrop of rapidly rising rents and a housing market that while showing some signs of slowing still is yielding record high costs. All the while, the county continues to grapple with an epic homeless crisis visible across the region.
According to the California Housing Partnership, asking rents in L.A. County increased by 6.8% between the fourth quarter of 2020 and the fourth quarter of 2021. Moreover, renters in the county need to earn $45.17 per hour to afford an average monthly asking asking rent of $2,349.
The result? A county in which an estimated half a million households are severely rent burdened — that is, they pay more than half their income on rent.
Several business advocacy groups have opposed SB 679, arguing that it would raise taxes. Critics from the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and Apartment Owners Association have called it confusing and “dangerous” at a time when they say it is already too expensive to live in California. A new taxing authority would only make it more expensive, they argue. Ultimately, they call it an attack on “housing providers” that circumvents a private enterprise solution.
The bill would require a board of 21 voting members to govern the agency. It would allow the agency to raise and allocate new revenue, incur and issue bonds. Such measures would be placed on the ballot in the county, with a goal of raising and allocating funds for affordable housing projects, renter protection programs and financing new construction of housing developments. There would also be an 11-member oversight committee, but critics say it would become another agency, such as Metro, or the LAHSA.
The legislation comes up for consideration at a time when the patchwork of policy efforts on affordable housing is evident among local cities.
Even as advocates call for the passage of the county agency, state Sen. Anthony Portantino’s SB 1177would tap $23 million to get a trust fund going to boost affordable housing in Pasadena, Glendale and Burbank. It has been approved by the state Legislature and is headed to the governor’s desk for his signature.
The bill would create an affordable housing regional trust between the three cities. The trust got a push when Portantino secured the $23 million from the 2022-23 budget. The money would help finance affordable housing.
Portantino’s legislation — if the governor signs it — would go toward building a fund administered by a joint-powers authority representing the three cities.
The devastating impact of the soaring price of housing can be seen through a lens of the state’s regional housing assessment, which has found that Southern California cities, in particular, haven’t done enough to to comply with new, stricter state laws designed to promote greater development across California.
California needs to build 2.5 million homes by the end of the decade to address the state’s current housing shortage. Of those, at least 1 million must be affordable to low-income households.
Several state officials have argued that strict city zoning laws on development are a big reason why rents and housing costs are so high. Moreover, cities across Southern California — including in this tri-city region — have been found to be falling short of state-mandated housing goals, despite robust pushes to create more housing, according to data from the state.
Take, for example, Pasadena. Under the state’s affordable housing goals, the city has been asked to plan for more than 9,400 new units from 2021 to 2029 — 600% more units than the previous eight-year cycle. And, like many cities in the region, it missed those earlier marks, though Pasadena made more progress than any of its neighbors.
Advocates say there’s no time to waste.
In Baldwin Park, Mayor Emmanuel Estrada said the new agency “would bring real resources and support to residents who are struggling to hold on to their home.”
His city’s Housing Authority recently conducted a lottery to randomly establish a waitlist of 5,000 for its Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program. There were over 8,300 applicants and all were expected to be notified this week about their application status.
“With the support of our community and partner agencies and organizations, the city of Baldwin Park will continue to do everything in its power to ensure every one of our residents has a clean and safe home,” Estrada said last week.
The legislature has until Aug. 31 to approve the legislation, after which Governor Newsom must sign the bill. If he does, the new agency would begin in the spring of 2023.