Residential real estate developers throughout California have been anticipating some new affordable housing bills for a while now, as Governor Jerry Brown continues his push to alleviate the ever-expanding affordable housing crisis here in the Golden State. However, now that several bills have floated around the legislature for a while, it is becoming clear that any sort of real solution may still be quite a long way off.
Several bills under consideration all face the same issue — namely, that the need for affordable housing is already staggering, while the population of the state continues to grow at an alarming rate. As of this writing, there is still no clear path forward that properly incentivizes developers to focus on affordable housing and also brings the cost of such development down to a sustainable level.
Most assessments of the issue find that the current housing crisis suffers from about a $10 billion-per-year shortfall between the need for housing and the cost of development. It is easy to see how this enormous need has no clear solution. Still, many developers want to find ways to create affordable housing in a way that is still acceptably lucrative.
If you are a real estate developer who wants to focus on affordable housing, you may be eyeing these bills to see when the right time is to wade into affordable housing development. Such bills can create great opportunity and also alleviate need, but they come at the cost of many layers of red tape. It is always important to ensure that you fully understand the process of working within regulations to develop in conjunction with such government initiatives. An experienced attorney can help you develop in conjunction with affordable housing legislation, if and when it passes.
Source: Los Angeles Times, “State Senate bills aim to make homes more affordable, but they won’t spur nearly enough construction,” Liam Dillon, Aug. 10, 2017