What the Measure Would Do

California Proposition 1 would authorize the state to issue $4 billion in general obligation bonds to support affordable housing. Under this measure, $3 billion of the bonds would go to fund existing state affordable housing programs, and $1 billion would go to an existing program that assists veterans with purchasing farms, homes and mobile homes.

The funds would be distributed as follows:

• $1.5 billion to the Multifamily Housing Program for the construction, rehabilitation and preservation of multifamily homes for households with incomes under 60 percent of their area median income
• $150 million to the Transit-Oriented Development Implementation Program, which provides low-interest loans to high-density development near transit
• $300 million to the Infill Incentive Grant Program, which funds new construction and rehabilitation of infrastructure that supports higher-density affordable and mixed-income housing in infill locations (empty or underused sites in existing neighborhoods)
• $150 million to the California Housing Finance Agency’s homebuyer assistance programs for low- and moderate-income homebuyers
• $300 million to the Joe Serna, Jr. Farmworker Housing Grant Program to assist with the construction or rehabilitation of housing for agricultural employees and families
• $300 million to the Local Housing Trust Matching Grant Program
• $300 million to the CalHome Program to provide grants to local public agencies and nonprofit developers to assist multifamily homeownership projects through deferred-payment loans
• $1 billion to the CalVet Home Loan Program, which provides loans to veterans for the purchase of single-family homes, farms, units in cooperative developments and mobile homes

The Backstory

Prop. 1 takes Senate Bill 3 to the voters for approval. SB 3 was authored by Senator Jim Beall during the 2017–18 legislative session and enjoyed widespread support. This measure was a key funding component of the state housing package that was passed last fall. The bond was originally in the amount of $3 billion, but negotiations among Democratic leaders at the last minute led to a $1 billion increase to fund veterans’ housing programs.

This state general obligation bond measure needs a simple majority (50 percent plus one vote) to pass.

Pros

• The state has an affordable housing crisis that cannot be addressed without significant public investments to bring down housing costs for low- and moderate-income households. This bond is one piece of the solution.
• The funding would be distributed through existing programs that have a successful track record of making housing more affordable for California residents.
• The Bay Area has one of the worst housing shortages in the state, and the multifamily, infill infrastructure and transit-oriented development programs funded by Prop. 1 are likely to benefit this region, among others.

Cons

• SPUR has not identified any points that we believe to be true cons of this measure.