“Under the proposed bill, California for the first time could draw in credit strapped investors to potentially unlock hundreds of thousands of shovel-ready homes now stuck in limbo by using the full faith and credit of the state to back the financing for the housing projects,” Cortese wrote in a Facebook post.
That’s key because Nolan Gray, senior director of legislation and research for California YIMBY, said that around 25 percent of Californians spend half their income on rents, which emphasizes the importance of building as much as possible to relieve the cost burden, according to the East Bay Times. The newspaper also said that SB 750 has backing from other state senators, including Christopher Cabaldon, Scott Wiener, Jesse Arreguín and Josh Becker.
Meanwhile, Cortese said that the electorate will need to pass a ballot innovative to amend the state’s constitution in addition to passing a companion bill to bring real change. Currently, the law in place forbids the state legislature from passing anything with liabilities or debts that are greater than $300,000, according to East Bay. SB 750 only lays out the framework for a financing tool. So work still needs to be done.
As a likely long process remains for the latest initiative in California, another major city in the state has found success by incentivizing developers. San Jose has done this through its multifamily housing incentive program, initially aimed at waiving 50 percent of construction taxes and fully exempting in-lieu fees for 1,500 units in eligible growth areas. But since interest from developers has surged, the city has been forced to expand the eligible units to 1,800.