Originally Posted: Friday, July 23, 2010
What’s Left as Session Winds to a Close
As the 2009-10 legislative session heads toward its August 31 conclusion, a few important housing issues remain. AB 602 (Feuer), restoring the statute of limitations in housing element challenges, AB 454 (Lowenthal), which would extend the state’s affordable housing preservation law, and AB 1149 (Corbett), protecting tenants in foreclosures, remain high on the agenda of housing advocates. Just before the break, renters’ rights and mobilehome advocates breathed a collective sigh of relief as AB 761 (Calderon) was halted in Senate Judiciary. The bill would have imposed vacancy decontrol on spaces when a mobilehome is sold, erasing the equity of low-income homeowners.
Originally Posted: Friday, April 30, 2010
Foreclosures Remain Top Agenda Item
This week Assembly Judiciary passed AB 2347 (Feuer), to give public agencies that provided financing for a multifamily affordable development the ability to delay for 60 days a foreclosure sale, when a private lender holding a first trust deed forecloses. The bill passed despite concerns from banks and opposition from the title companies. It must clear Assembly Banking next week.
Originally Posted: Saturday, April 24, 2010
SB 1149 Advances
Last week, the full Senate passed SB 1149 (Corbett) on a party-line vote. The bill would require that foreclosure agents attach a cover sheet on any tenant eviction notice(s), generally explaining the tenant's rights and advising him/her to talk to an attorney; the bill also requires courts to mask the foreclosure eviction actions so that tenants caught up in foreclosures can assert their rights without fear of appearing on credit reports.
In addition, this week HCD released Notices of Funding Availability for the BEGIN, CalHOME, Serna single-family farmworker, and Federal Emergency Shelter programs. Links to the notices can be found toward the bottom of this page on HCD's website: http://www.hcd.ca.gov/fa/index.html.
Originally Posted: Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Affordable Housing Finance on Agenda
The Assembly Housing Committee, searching for the elusive answer to the affordable housing conundrum, will gather experts on April 7th in an attempt to find new funds to fill the gaping hole appearing as the state runs out of Prop. 1C and Prop 46 funding. Legislators, advocates and the non/for profit industry are looking for stopgap funding this year, while preparing for the anticipated 2011 reintroduction of Senate Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg's legislation to establish a permanent source of funds for affordable housing.
Meanwhile, SB 1149 (Corbett) passed Senate Judiciary March 23, and was sent to the Senate Floor. It would require eviction notices served within 1 year of a foreclosure carry a cover sheet that explains the notice(s), and advises the tenant that they may generally protect their rights without fear of their credit being ruined.
Originally Posted: Saturday, March 20, 2010
Perez Appoints Committee Chairs
Assembly Speaker John Perez announced new appointments to committee chairs and members. Of interest to housers: Norma Torres remains chair of the Housing Committee with the addition of two new members, Juan Arambula, who assumes the vice chair position, and Tom Torlakson, who chaired the committee during his prior tenure in the Assembly. In an uncommon move, Perez made Republican Cameron Smyth chair of the Assembly Local Government committee, where many land use bills go, putting the local government committee of both houses in control of Republicans.
Originally Posted: Sunday, March 07, 2010
Corbett Bill Protects Tenants in Foreclosed Homes
The ongoing foreclosure crisis harms innocent renters. Estimates shows that approximately 25% of foreclosed dwelling units are occupied by tenants. These tenants had nothing to do with the bad loans, but under long-standing law, if the landlord lost the property, the tenant had to move. In the last 2 years, new laws on the both the state and federal level have been enacted with bipartisan support to soften the blow on tenants. State law (SB 1137 of 2008) now requires a 60-day notice before an innocent tenant may be evicted after a foreclosure; federal law enacted in 2009 now generally requires a 90-day notice, and fixed-term leases must generally be honored.
Yet in many cases, foreclosers flaunt the new laws, daring tenants to assert their rights. A common tactic is to serve the tenant with a notice giving them little time to move out of the property, contrary to state and/or federal law. Tenants are intimidated into moving quickly, even though federal law gives them 90 days. SB 1149 would ensure that tenants are better informed of their rights and ensure that they can adequately assert those rights. The bill is sponsored by WCLP, CRLA Foundation and the California Reinvestment Coalition.
Originally Posted: Saturday, February 20, 2010
Special Session Hits Deadline
With a multi-billion dollar deficit at hand, the Legislature continues to work to trim the current year 2009-2010 budget. Last month, the Governor called an "extraordinary session" during which the Legislature must act on the Governor’s budget fixes or enact their own. Next Monday marks the 45th day of the session; under the state constitution, the Legislature may not act on any other bills until the budget is dealt with. Accordingly, the Senate passed a set of budget bills this week and sent them to the Assembly, which plans to vote on them Monday. If the plan holds, and the extraordinary session shuts down Monday, the fate of several housing bills moving in the extraordinary session looks a bit grim.
Originally Posted: Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Gov Releases Long-Awaited Homelessness Plan
The night before the Assembly Housing Committee was to meet to discuss "Coordination of State and Federal Resources to Address Homelessness," the Governor’s office approved the released of its long-awaited state 10-year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness. It’s been nearly 33 months since the draft plan was released, and many have wondered whether it would ever receive final approval. The timing of its release did not escape the notice of committee members, who queried administration officials about the plan’s hold-up and other inaction on homelessness. Download the plan here.
Originally Posted: Thursday, January 28, 2010
Two-Year Bills Move to Next House
SB 454 (Lowenthal), which will remove the sunset on the state's affordable housing preservation law, passed the Senate unanimously on Wednsday. It now heads to the Assembly. The Senate also approved SB 194 (Florez), ensuring that Federal CDBG dollars are focused on low-income communities.
SB 16 (Lowenthal) was once again held in the Senate Appropriations committee. This bill would have made state tax credits refundable, making the credits more attractive to investors. The bill had been held last year, but was briefly given renewed hope of making it off of the suspense file this year. In the end, the bill appeared to have fallen victim to the state's worsening financial picture, as all bills with any potential costs to the General Fund were held in Suspense.
Originally Posted: Saturday, January 23, 2010
Calm Before the Storm
Friday was the deadline for authors to submit bill drafts to the Legislative Counsel’s office for preparation. Between now and the bill introduction deadline February 19, bills will begin to trickle in, with most being introduced in the two days before the deadline.
A host of housing related measures are expected. Among them: bills to enhance protections for tenants in foreclosed homes, strengthen incentives for banks to approve loan modifications for troubled borrowers, preserve housing element enforcement, and extend the sunset on the state’s affordable housing preservation law.