California Helps Preserve Affordability of More Than 600 Homes

LOS ANGELES July 12^th, 2023 – California is investing $159.9 million to keep 638 homes affordable for up to 55 more years rather than risk having them convert into market-rate units.

The awards are part of the state’s Portfolio Reinvestment Program managed by the state Department of Housing and Community Development. The program looks to extend affordability agreements by extending loan maturity dates, provide new low-interest long-term loans for rehabilitation of housing, and offer forgivable loans to support short-term operating subsidies.

In the latest funding round, awardees include:

San Francisco County:

• Mission Housing Development Corp. received $12,950,076 to preserve 49 units at Dunleavy Plaza   
• Chinatown Community Development Center received $9,821,259 to preserve 82 units at Clayton Hotel and $9,976,420 to preserve 41 units at St. Claire Residence.

Los Angeles County:

• Abode Communities received $26,248,920 to preserve 144 units at Centennial  
• 5169 Hollywood Boulevard received $11,217,661 to preserve 44 units at Kingswood Apartments 

Santa Cruz County:

• Eden Housing received $12,075,450 to preserve 45 units at Sparks Way Commons in Alameda County. The nonprofit also received $5,719,492 to preserve 21 units at Hope Villa Esperanza.  A third award of $19,421,950 will preserve 76 units at the Vista Verde Apartments  

Kern County:

• Golden Empire Affordable Housing received $2,996,989 to preserve 16 units at Park Real Apartments

Sonoma County:

• Community Support Network received $396,103 to preserve six units at DeTurk.   

San Joaquin County:

• Lutheran Social Services of Northern California received $4,520,577 to aid in the rehabilitation of three projects to preserve 24 units
• The John Stewart Co. received $44,621,770 to preserve 90 units at The Sequoia in Sacramento.

Since 2022, $315.3 million has been awarded to preserve 1,364 affordable homes, ensuring housing for nearly 27,000 people over the life of the developments’ affordability agreements, according to state officials.

HUD Awards $3.16 Billion to Public Housing Authorities

The funding will go toward modernizing public housing across the country.

(WASHINGTON, DC February 22nd, 2023) The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced $3.16 billion in funding to nearly 2,770 public housing authorities (PHAs) in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The grants will be used to make important capital investments in the public housing stock.

“As I have traveled the country, I’ve heard time and again from families and seniors in public housing that a decent home in a safe community shouldn’t be too much to ask for,” said HUD secretary Marcia L. Fudge in a statement. “With this investment today, we are committing to work with our public housing authority partners to guarantee homes in public housing are worthy of the families and individuals who live there.”

The grants are provided through HUD’s Capital Fund program, which offers annual funding to PHAs to build, renovate, and/or modernize the public housing in their communities. Housing authorities can use the funding to complete large-scale improvements, such as replacing roofs or making energy-efficient upgrades to heating systems and installing water conservation measures.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) published in last week’s Federal Register a notice of fiscal year 2021 (FY 21) fair market rents (FMRs) for the Housing Choice Voucher program, Moderate Rehabilitation SRO program and other HUD programs. The notice states that the trend factors used to determine FY 21 FMRs include updated economic assumptions to reflect the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The notice also enumerates how public housing authorities and other parties can request reevaluations of their FMRs. Comments on the notice are due Sept. 30 and the FMRs will be effective Oct. 1.