The median house price in California has surpassed $800,000 for the first time. Those who live in the state are among the most financially stressed people in the nation. Over 100,000 people sleep outdoors or in their vehicles each night, according to the city. Whatever media and politicians refer to it as — a crisis, a catastrophe, the religion of grief, a shame — everyone throughout the state, including all of the main contenders for governor in the recall election this week, agree that the situation is unsustainable.
California officials today announced the creation of the California Housing Accelerator, a $1.75 billion component of Governor Newsom’s California Comeback Plan, which will help to expedite the construction of an estimated 6,500 shovel-ready affordable multi-family units in projects that have been stalled due to a lack of tax-exempt bonds and low-income housing tax credits due to supply constraints.
As part of the California Comeback Plan, an unprecedented $22 billion will be invested in housing and homelessness, resulting in the construction of more than 84,000 new affordable homes for Californians, including more than 44,000 new housing units and treatment beds for people who have recently experienced homelessness. With $10.3 billion planned for housing and more than $12 billion for the unhoused, the California Housing Plan is the most substantial investment in housing in the state’s history.
While the federal eviction ban expired, Mr. Newsom, a Democrat, attempted to get the state through by extending the state’s eviction moratorium, even as the federal ban expired, and pouring money from the state’s budget surplus and various coronavirus relief packages into homeless funding and programmes such as an effort to convert hotels into supportive housing, among other things.
California, on the other hand, continues to be one of the most challenging locations in the United States to construct homes, resulting in a supply-and-demand mismatch. In fact, it is at the forefront of a national issue that is pricing middle-income people out of home ownership and resulting in one in every four rental households spending more than half of their pretax income on rent.
