The San Francisco Housing Action Coalition (SFHAC) is pleased to announce our “Intent To Support” for Assembly Bills 71 and 73. SFHAC’s Executive Committee (our governing body) still must sign off on the official endorsement. Both pieces of legislation come from the office of Assemblymember David Chiu, who represents the east side of San Francisco. While Chiu has a number of bills related to housing this year, AB 71 and AB 73 address two key areas: funding for subsidized affordable housing and incentivizing more homes around transit.
AB 71
AB 71 will create a permanent source of funding for subsidized affordable housing, generating $300 million annually by eliminating the state mortgage interest deduction on second homes. This means that Californians who purchase a second home will not receive the same tax break from the state that they received when they purchased their first home. While homeownership is a fantastic goal for many Californians, we need to be prioritizing a “first home” for all over a “second (or vacation) home” for some. Chiu estimates that the extra revenue could be leveraged to generate up to 3,000 subsidized affordable homes annually for low-income Californians. Additionally, Chiu estimates that additional job creation associated with the construction and operation of these new homes could hit 7,000. You can read our letter of support here.
AB73
AB 73 is Chiu’s attempt to incentivize local jurisdictions to add housing on their own. Currently, there is no punishment for cities that do not hit the Regional Housing Need Allocation (RHNA) goals. While Chiu’s legislation doesn’t have a stick, the carrot is large. Cities that decide to re-zone for more housing around transit would be rewarded by the state in the form of additional revenue. Since many jurisdictions have not done their fair share in the past, perhaps extra money for local services will be the incentive they need to build more housing. You can read our letter of support here.
If you want to reach out and support Assemblymember Chiu’s pieces of legislation, you can call his district office at (415) 557-3013. We will continue to assess the rest of Chiu’s legislation as well as other pieces of legislation that impact housing.
Image: San Francisco Parks Alliance
