CAR Legislative Update

Senate Bill 2 Planning Grant Program Year 1 Guidelines are pending a revised draft.
SB 2 provides funding for affordable housing by imposing a flat $75 per document recording fee on every real estate instrument, not part of a sales transaction and dedicates 20% of the funds generated to affordable owner-occupied workforce housing programs. In October 2018, the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) released draft guidelines detailing project eligibility requirements and the application review process. C.A.R. submitted comments of concern to HCD because the Guidelines failed to include recommendations regarding the mandated 20% allocation for affordable owner-occupied workforce housing programs, as directed by statute. Since there is currently not a uniform definition for “affordable owner-occupied workforce housing” and “affordable workforce housing,” C.A.R. requested that HCD define these terms in the SB 2 Guidelines as “housing that is affordable to persons and families of low or moderate income, as defined in Section 50093 of the Health and Safety Code.”