Basements in Vancouver: common features and benefits

Basement renovations in Vancouver are becoming increasingly popular as homeowners look for ways to maximize the livable space in their homes. Basements offer a blank canvas that can be transformed into anything from a home office or gym to a media room or extra bedroom. In addition, basements can provide valuable storage space and many come equipped with laundry facilities. Basements also offer the added benefit of being relatively easy and inexpensive to renovate, making them an attractive option for those on a tight budget. With so many potential benefits, it’s no wonder that basement renovations are one of the most popular home improvement projects in Vancouver.
Basements are often thought of as dark and dreary places, but in Vancouver, they can be so much more. With a little bit of imagination and some strategic renovations, basements can become bright and welcoming spaces that are perfect for entertaining or simply relaxing at the end of a long day. Basements in Vancouver typically have common features that can be used to create a variety of benefits. For example, many basements have high ceilings, which can be used to create a sense of spaciousness. Additionally, basements usually have large windows that let in plenty of natural light. This combination of features makes basements the perfect place to add an extra bedroom or home office. Basements can also be renovated to include a family room, wet bar, or even a home theatre. No matter what your vision for your basement is, with the help of a professional renovation team, it can easily become a reality.
ALSO READ: Buy a luxury building, then lower the rent

How turning your basement into a livable space

Turning your basement into a livable space can be a great way to increase the value of your home. Not only will you be able to use the extra space for entertaining or as a guest room, but you’ll also be able to add value to your home if you ever decide to sell. There are a few things to keep in mind when basement living, however. First, make sure that the space is well-insulated and that there’s adequate ventilation. You’ll also want to make sure that there’s plenty of natural light coming in, as basements can sometimes feel a bit dark and dreary. With a little bit of planning and forethought, however, you can easily turn your basement into a livable space that you and your family will enjoy for years to come.

Ideas for finishing your basement on a budget

Most homeowners would love to have an extra room in their house, but the cost of adding a new bedroom or family room can be prohibitive. However, there is often a hidden gem right under our noses: the basement. With a little effort and creativity, a basement can be transformed into a comfortable and inviting space. And best of all, it can be done on a budget.
One of the most important considerations when finishing a basement is insulation. Without proper insulation, your basement will be cold and drafty, making it unusable for most purposes. You may be able to install insulation yourself, but it’s worth consulting with a professional to ensure that it’s done properly. Once your basement is properly insulated, you can start thinking about how to use the space. If you’re looking for extra living space, consider adding a Murphy bed or daybed. For storage, try using baskets or bins to keep things organized and out of sight. And if you’re looking for a place to relax and unwind, consider adding a small couch and TV. With a little effort, you can transform your basement into a functional and stylish space that won’t break the bank.

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These workforce housing communities create jobs and provide access to good schools, quality public utilities and infrastructure, convenient access to transportation, employment centers and healthcare plus a full spectrum of affordable housing choices – from San Diego, Orange County, Riverside and Los Angeles to the greater Sacramento region.

Jamboree works with community leaders to provide resident services that enhance neighborhoods and transform the lives of low-income families, seniors on fixed incomes, formerly homeless children and adults, and those living with a mental health diagnosis.

Building workforce, low-income communities in California

Working with city and county government and community partners to build low-income and workforce housing, we develop, construct, manage and preserve affordable housing that strengthens communities throughout the Golden State – from Orange County and San Diego County to the Inland Empire in Riverside County and San Bernardino County, as well as in Los Angeles County, the greater Sacramento region and beyond.

While our building types include a handful of mobile home communities, single resident occupancy (SRO or zero bedroom units) and single-family homes, the vast majority of Jamboree’s affordable housing development portfolio features multifamily apartment homes for low-income and mid-income families, seniors and those with special needs, with supportive services that transform lives and strengthen communities for lasting impact.

With an asset portfolio of $3.2 billion, Jamboree is one of the largest nonprofit builders of quality affordable housing in California – and among the nation’s top five largest nonprofit developers of affordable housing. Our $1.1 billion affordable housing development pipeline reflects our public and private partnerships with local cities and counties to design and build healthy communities that enable residents to live, work and thrive in their own cities. Jamboree is proud to be Orange County’s largest nonprofit affordable housing development company. We’re also the largest developer of Permanent Supportive Housing in Orange County, bringing hope to end homelessness in OC and beyond with proven solutions that work.

Quality Development and Construction

Jamboree’s Quality Development and Construction, Inc., is a California licensed general contractor. It is the technical consultant, design expert, construction manager and general contractor for building affordable housing communities developed by Jamboree in cities from Southern California to Northern California. 

As part of our Housing Development Group, this team of professionals has decades of varied design and construction experience that brings both broad and specialized expertise to all aspects of new construction and rehabilitation of existing affordable properties. This ensures construction standardization across Jamboree’s affordable housing asset portfolio throughout California, as well as more cost-effective design solutions and greater sustainability to maintain affordability for the long term.

As the dedicated licensed general contractor for Jamboree projects, Quality Development and Construction provides all labor and material necessary to build the project, engages subcontractors, coordinates schedules and budgets, and ensures compliance with standards and regulations. When a trusted third-party partner is selected as the general contractor, Quality Development and Construction serves as the construction manager during the entire development process to augment the technical knowledge and expertise of our trusted design and construction partners.

By providing in-house services, our team addresses all aspects of design and construction – from strategic master planning to post-construction warranty service – to ensure the highest industry standards and benchmarks in all specifications unique to Jamboree affordable housing properties.

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The initial cost of incorporating a new business depends on whether you use a web-based do-it-yourself service or a law firm. Using a web-based service or any service other than a law firm may save you money initially, but it will cost you money in the long run. For example, contractors who incorporate should also make sure that their corporations are properly licensed with the California State Contractors License Board before they do any construction work. If you include but do not comply with contractor licensing laws, you may find that saving money on an outside interface exposes you to significant civil and criminal penalties for contracting without a license.

Contracting without a license is a misdemeanor
Neglecting to apply for and qualify your corporation for a separate contractor’s license with the California State Licensing Board (CSLB) so that your corporation is always properly licensed during a construction project is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $1,000. and six months in jail. In addition to potential criminal liability, your corporation will not be able to demand payment for construction services performed without a license, and may be forced to refund any money received for construction services performed without a license. For more information on the adverse consequences of contracting without a license, see the article on our website titled Possible Consequences for Unlicensed Contractors in California .

How to estimate the cost of registering your business
To determine if you can afford to incorporate, ask your accountant and your attorney to estimate the costs and tax consequences. In particular, ask your accountant to estimate the minimum annual taxes your corporation will have to pay in local, state and federal taxes. Unlike businesses operating as sole proprietorships, California corporations pay an annual minimum state tax whether they make a profit or not.

In addition, forming a corporation can put you in the unenviable situation of having your income taxed twice because your corporation will pay income tax and you will also pay income tax on the wages and dividends you receive from your corporation. Ask your accountant if you can avoid the possibility of double taxation by registering your corporation as a Subchapter S corporation.

Operating Capital.
Another cost to consider is the amount of money shareholders will have to contribute to the corporation as working capital. By consulting with your accountant and lawyer, you can determine how much money (capital) your corporation will need to cover start-up costs, operating expenses, and meeting minimum capital requirements. For example, the CSLB requires that corporations applying for a contractor’s license have at least $2,500 in capital. The corporation’s initial capital contribution is what shareholders pay to the corporation in exchange for stock. In addition to the minimum amount required by law, you and your accountant should estimate the amount of working capital your corporation will need to reach a level where you expect your corporation to begin generating enough income to cover its expenses (working capital).

Attorney Fees and Expenses
Together with your attorney, you should determine what legal fees and expenses you will incur to set up your corporation. In addition to charging fees for the time it takes to prepare your corporate documents, attorneys will also require that you pay the state filing fee and the cost of your initial corporate materials. State fees include fees for reserving your corporation name, filing your corporation’s articles of incorporation with the Secretary of State, and registering the sale of your corporation stock with the Department of Corporations. Initial corporate supplies usually include a corporate seal, stock certificates, a ledger to keep track of your corporation stock transactions, and a folder to keep all your corporate records together and in an orderly fashion.

In addition to the basic documents that your attorney will prepare to create your corporation (articles of incorporation, bylaws, minutes of initial meetings and corporate resolutions), your attorney may also recommend that your corporation limit the transfer of stock by purchasing shares. sale agreement. Sale and purchase agreements are designed to ensure that shareholders are treated fairly and their rights are protected. It also allows shareholders to decide which third parties may become shareholders in the future and provides safeguards for minority positions by limiting stock sales.

Your attorney may also recommend drafting employment contracts for key employees and securing personal loans you make to your corporation with promissory notes and security agreements. To complete the formation of your corporation, your attorney should help you organize and conduct the initial corporate meeting at which the corporation will sell stock, appoint and elect directors and officers, authorize the corporation to open bank accounts, conduct an election to determine tax status for the state and IRS ( Subchapter S election ), select the principal business location and establish other important functions the corporation will need to begin business operations.

Corporate Formalities
Once your corporation is formed, your attorney should provide you with written instructions on how to comply with corporate registration and record keeping. For example, your corporation will be required to file an annual information report with the California Secretary of State, hold an annual meeting of stockholders and directors, keep minutes of annual meetings, and file tax returns. Please keep in mind that failure to comply with these and other routine corporate formalities can result in the loss of a major benefit of forming a corporation, protection from personal liability for business expenses.

Obtaining a contractor’s license for your corporation
Another cost item to estimate for setting up your corporation is the cost of your corporation to obtain a California contractor’s license. You can usually get this information from your attorney or contractor licensing office. Also, ask how long it takes the licensing board to process license applications, because until your corporation gets a contractor’s license, it can’t legally do contracting business.

Once you have an estimate for professional legal and accounting services, state registration fees, licensing costs, and initial business capital, you should have a good estimate of how much it will cost to register your business.

The benefits of incorporation
In all likelihood, the total cost estimate to incorporate your construction business and cover the increased taxes and associated corporate expenses will be significant. It can easily take six months to prepare a business plan, obtain estimates for professional services, retain professionals, and complete the formation and license for your corporation. So why bother? What are the benefits of incorporation that justify the expense and additional business complexities of maintaining a corporation?

Some of the major benefits of incorporating your business are (1) being able to separate and protect your personal assets from potential liabilities and financial losses of your business, (2) creating a more professional business image, (3) being able to raise capital by selling stock in the corporation, (4) creating a legal entity that can continue to exist after its founders die, (5) facilitating the business’ ability to attract and retain key employees, (6) increasing your ability to sell your business and (7) creating the ability

Construction is a risky business
Construction businesses have a high failure rate. Even the construction of a relatively small structure usually requires coordination and cooperation between property owners, lenders, architects, engineers, municipal building departments, building inspectors, general contractors, subcontractors, tradesmen, insurance companies, equipment suppliers and building material suppliers.

From start to finish, the typical construction project is under tremendous economic pressure because of the common practice in the construction industry of awarding contracts to the lowest bidder. Unfortunately, sometimes the lowest price is offered by a company that overlooked costs and offered a low price as a result of a bidding error.

Other times, there will be one or more bidders who win the project because they cut corners to lower the price of their bid. As a result, progress is often interrupted because one or more participants in the construction process are not working properly, or because of unexpectedly long periods of bad weather.

Whatever the reason, construction delays can have a negative impact on the financial situation of everyone involved in the project. Thus, given the risky nature of the construction business, a wise business owner will take steps to separate and protect their personal assets from exposure to these risks. Registering your construction business, along with the right insurance coverage, can protect your personal assets and more than justify the cost and time required to register your business.

Creating a professional image
The inclusion of your business indicates a certain degree of financial capability and business sophistication. Anyone who has gone through the process of starting their own business knows what it takes to create and successfully run a corporation. Thus, your clients and potential clients may believe that incorporated businesses have more credibility, reliability and professionalism than unincorporated businesses. To improve your corporate image and comply with CSLB regulations, make sure that all contracts, invoices, letterhead, promotional materials, business cards, etc. of your corporation contain your corporation name and license number exactly as they appear on the Contractors License Board. Using a company name other than the one listed on the CSLB may result in a charge of contracting without a license.

Raising money by selling stock
If your corporation is not registered as a publicly traded company, such as General Motors, you may not advertise the sale of your corporation’s stock to the public and the number of shareholders of your corporation will be limited. Check with your attorney for the actual number of shareholders and restrictions on selling stock in your corporation. Generally speaking, you may only sell stock in your corporation to people you know personally or with whom you already have a business relationship, such as family, friends, business associates and employees.

You should only sell stock in your corporation on the advice of an attorney to make sure that your investors are properly informed of the restrictions associated with your corporation’s stock and to ensure that all transactions in your corporation’s stock are properly recorded. Keep in mind that shareholders appoint and elect corporate directors. The corporate directors then appoint and elect corporate officers who manage the day-to-day operations of the corporation in accordance with the articles of incorporation and the guidelines established by the board of directors of the corporation. The election of directors is determined by a majority vote. Consequently, the person or persons who control a majority of the stock of the corporation controls the corporation.

A corporation has an unlimited life span.
Unlike you or me, a corporation does not have an unlimited life span. In theory, a corporation can exist forever. This means that you can transfer ownership of your corporation by leaving your corporate stock to your heirs or by selling your stock. Either way, your corporation can exist long after you do.

This also gives you the opportunity to improve your corporation’s chances of retaining key employees by making attractive offers to buy corporate stock or by including corporate stock in their benefits package. Be sure to consult with your accountants and lawyers before proceeding with the transfer or sale of stock to your employees. For example, when you sell or transfer corporate stock, your shareholders should be bound by a share purchase agreement that restricts the sale of corporate stock so that you and/or other shareholders and the corporation can control the transfer or sale of corporate stock.

Board of Directors
Once your business is incorporated, you can hire other successful professionals as members of your corporation’s board of directors. These individuals can bring prestige, knowledge, business connections and skills that can enhance your corporation’s profitability and allow you to retire with dignity.

The post Pros and cons of opening a construction business in California appeared first on CACX.

Fair Housing / Inclusive Practices
Fair Housing goes beyond low income and allows for a wide range of rental prices and affordability, creating flexible models and designs that offer a healthy return on investment for developers and investors, while meeting different housing requirements and needs by area, region and country. demographics. Inclusive housing is also important because lifestyle norms and gender identity definitions are changing, and fair housing practices must be respected. This sometimes requires changes in zoning and redistricting laws and enforcement and/or implementation of FHEO Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity practices and standards.

Related social services and support programs

The opioid crisis and substance abuse as well as mental illness, stagnant wages and inadequate training and education – all of which exacerbate social and income inequality – are triggers for the affordability/opportunity gap. Community and social programs designed to lift people out of poverty and stabilize individuals, families and communities are part of the affordable housing solution.

Affordable Housing Solutions.
Strengthening partnerships between communities, developers, lenders, agencies, and residents

Lenders were encouraged to create more flexible, efficient and appropriate financing options when traditional tax credits and financing/equity investments alone are not enough. Lenders can create more appropriate types of loans that allow developers to meet the demand for affordable housing while making a profit and meeting the needs of the community and its residents. Communication and collaboration are key to determining what is most beneficial from one neighborhood/project to another.

Overcoming bureaucracy, making the process more efficient, and finding new solutions to decades-old problems

New state programs

• Homekey focuses on developing a range of housing types for the homeless or those at risk of becoming homeless. They range from hotels and motels to single-family homes and apartment buildings and aim to provide “permanent or transitional housing for the target population.” Homekey is an example of a publicly funded program designed to encourage and support development in one specific area.
• The Middle Income Housing Tax Credit (MIHTC) is similar to the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program. These tax credits, issued at the federal level to public housing agencies, can be allocated and made available to developers of affordable housing. Once investors raise and purchase the credits, the developer will be able to get a share and invest in the construction of apartments or properties that qualify for the MIHTC. To qualify, these properties must set aside 60 percent of the apartments for households earning 100 percent or less of the area’s median income. MIHTC will create another tier of affordable housing that will pay higher rents while meeting the needs of the underserved sector. It also gives developers/investors the opportunity to create mixed-income/multi-purpose properties, not just low-income housing, which can sometimes be difficult from a cost-effectiveness standpoint.

Where are the new opportunities for growth and development?

• Urban infill and adaptive reuse provide creative housing opportunities, while breathing life into older properties and filling empty lots with new development.
• Rural migration means cost-effective land, which means more cost-effective upfront costs. But it also raises concerns about utilities and infrastructure, as well as transportation, communications, and employment opportunities for residents.

New Energy Regulation and Incentives
All types of multifamily dwellings will now be subject to the same energy code requirements. Previously, there were differences in requirements between low-rise and high-rise. Now a low-rise apartment building and a high-rise apartment building will be in the same category.
The new energy code is largely aimed at encouraging decarbonization/conversion to electrification.
The SOURCE energy category was added when determining energy ratings (SOURCE encourages electricity over natural gas).
For new construction, natural gas furnace installations must also be pre-wired for electric heat pump installation.
This does not apply to rehabilitation centers. If your existing property uses natural gas, you can still replace that system with a natural gas system without any penalty (although you will get extra points for switching to electric).
Battery must be included in solar for non-residential buildings (which, in the context of apartment buildings, may include a detached community/residential building).
Residential buildings must, at a minimum, be prepared for battery storage.
Prescriptive solar PV systems are applicable to all multi-family buildings (including high-rise buildings).
Any projects filed for a permit before January 1, 2023, will still be subject to the 2019 energy code, and properties can actually be permitted after January 1 after the proper paperwork is filed.

The post Solving California’s Affordable Housing Problem appeared first on CACX.

For over five decades, Western Center has advocated on behalf of Californians experiencing poverty in every branch of government—from the courts to the Legislature. Through the lens of economic and racial justice, we litigate, educate and advocate around health care, housing, and public benefits policies and administration.

The Center’s goal is for ALL Californians to have access to healthy, sustainable and affordable housing in neighborhoods of their choice. The Center advocates for robust, clear and enforceable displacement protections and works to:

Protect tenants from eviction and landlord abuse, and ensure access to housing through…

Work to ensure fair rents, require good cause for eviction, strengthen procedural protections for tenants facing eviction, and remove incentives for investor speculation.
Combating Housing Discrimination.
Creating ways for homeless people to access the supports and resources they need to obtain and maintain housing.
Working to end unfair policies that lead to the criminalization of homelessness
Preserving existing housing stock by…

Preventing the conversion of old subsidized units to market rate units
Calling for public subsidies that allow affordable housing operators to lower rents while maintaining high quality housing.
Strengthen laws that ensure that rental units and neighborhoods are healthy and habitable
Promote fair planning and development by…

Eliminating local government to deny affordable housing projects
Using private development to help create housing units for people and families with very low and extremely low incomes.
Providing funding for affordable housing
Creating more opportunities for community ownership and control of land and housing; ensuring that public land is used for the public good
Dismantling structural racism in land use and planning

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NSI deploys financial assistance, professional services, and training to help mitigate one-time costs and build resources for San Francisco-based nonprofits. The grantees awarded serve neighborhoods citywide, including residents in Chinatown, the Tenderloin, South of Market, the Castro, and the Mission, where they will continue to stay rooted in their communities and contribute to the long-term cultural vitality of San Francisco.

Real estate and occupancy expenses are the second-highest cost for many businesses, and can destabilize nonprofits that provide essential services and resources.

“The pandemic has shown us just how critical the services our nonprofits provide and the important role they play in our communities,” said Mayor Breed. “The Nonprofit Sustainability Initiative not only allows organizations to acquire and lease space during a time when it has become increasingly difficult to do so, but it provides them with an opportunity to strengthen their resources and remain deeply rooted in the community.”

Since the NSI announced its first awards five years ago in May 2017, the City has awarded $17.6 million in financial assistance to help community-focused nonprofits acquire permanent space and stabilize leases. Seventeen organizations have been awarded grants for permanent space, including 14 Black, Asian, Latino and Filipino-led organizations, populations that have historically faced disparities in philanthropic giving and barriers to growth.

Overall, the NSI has supported the creation of 161,097 square feet of permanent, newly nonprofit-owned space throughout the City. Furthermore, over 200 nonprofits have received grants or professional services to build resources and support real estate stabilization in addition to overall sustainability.

“San Francisco’s nonprofits are trailblazers and stalwart providers who often bridge the gap between city resources and the communities that need them most. And, they are mission-driven businesses that face barriers to growth and stability. We know the value that trusted providers bring to keep our communities safe, feed hungry families, and shelter unhoused residents. These awards will help nonprofits weather future storms by providing much-needed stability today,” said Kate Sofis, the Executive Director of the Office of Economic and Workforce Development.

San Francisco has nearly 7,000 nonprofits, including a workforce that often works in partnership with the City to address complex challenges and the needs of its residents. The underlying objective of NSI is to ensure access to quality-of-life resources as well as education, health, and human services for residents of San Francisco, and real estate assistance is a cornerstone of the program.

“It’s hard to overstate the importance of the NSI investment to Chinatown CDC. On a pragmatic level, this grant will allow us to consolidate our operations to foster collaboration and efficiencies and expand our program offerings directly to and in the Chinatown community. On a spiritual level, this grant will allow Chinatown CDC to return home on multiple levels, said Malcolm Yeung, Executive Director of the Chinatown Community Development Center (CCDC). “As a place-based organization, the impact of being in the place that you serve is immeasurable. The office we are moving into is also the first office we rented in our formative years back in the 1980’s. So, to now have the opportunity to turn our FIRST home into our PERMANENT home ensures that CCDC will forever be rooted in Chinatown.”

“It takes the hood to save the hood. From the elementaries to the penitentiaries, this center will provide services for literacy and restorative justice. I would like to thank everybody who has been involved in this project and helped to make it happen, and most definitely Mayor London Breed,” said Rudy Corpuz, Jr., Founding Director of United Playaz.

“With this award, we’ll be able to create our vision of a BIPOC Sanctuary, a dance studio dedicated to cultural enrichment, health and wellness for everyone to enjoy. The importance of this project for PUSH Dance Company, was to create an ADA-accessible dance floor that faced many financial obstacles from the recovery and pandemic, but we remained resilient and determined to make an inclusive place for everyone,” said Raissa Simpson, Artistic Director of PUSH Dance Company.

The post Mayor London Breed Announces $3.3 Million in Funding to Support Community Nonprofit Organizations appeared first on CACX.

State and individual city and county leaders have also recognized the serious shortage of workforce housing for those called the “missing middle,” individuals and families who earn too much to qualify for traditional affordable housing but not enough to afford it. market rate rents in the communities where they work. Workforce housing (sometimes called middle- or moderate-income housing) is housing for individuals and families who typically earn between 60% and 120% AMI. Unfortunately, workforce housing for the “missing middle” is not eligible for tax credits, private activity bonds or most other federal, state or local government subsidies.

The CSCDA Community Improvement Authority (CSCDA CIA), an affiliated joint powers authority, acquires capital projects focused on the public good through the issuance of tax-exempt public purpose bonds. Under the CSCDA CIA housing program, state bonds are issued to purchase market-rate multifamily properties. These properties are then converted into income and rent restricted units for moderate/moderate income households, which are typically households earning between 80% and 120% AMI. Annual rent increases are limited to no more than 4%, well below the rent limits under AB1482, the state’s recently enacted tenant protection law. In addition, no existing tenants will be displaced under the program.

CSCDA CIA operates the largest workforce housing program in California and has purchased and retrofitted more than 7,700 apartments for low- and moderate-income tenants.

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The programs target middle-income workers, including police officers, teachers and nurses, who earn too much to qualify for most traditional subsidized housing but still can’t afford a place near work, according to state agencies and private partners involved.

They are based on a unique financial model that includes local property tax subsidies. Supporters say the approach makes thousands of apartments across the state more affordable for those without high incomes, serving the so-called “missing middle” excluded from other affordable housing programs and left to the unrestrained real estate market.

At least three government agencies have launched these programs, cutting rents by double-digit percentages in places like Long Beach and Pasadena. In all, government agencies, known as consolidated authorities, have purchased more than 20 buildings totaling more than 6,000 units.

Questions remain about the long-term effects and underlying economics, including whether the cities, which must approve the deals and help guarantee rent reductions, will actually be reimbursed. Some also dispute whether the rent reductions are large enough to make the program worthwhile.

The Los Angeles City Council is awaiting a staff report on the possibility of annexation. In Northern California, the San Jose City Council declined to participate after city officials concluded that “the risks and costs of annexation … outweigh the potential benefits.”

Despite such concerns, programs expanded quickly during the pandemic as minimal interest rates made it easier to finance acquisitions and economic uncertainty meant fewer traditional real estate investors were competitors.

And for some renters who could afford housing that was previously unaffordable, they were a game-changer.

The most active authorities buying buildings are the California Community Development Authority, or CSCDA, and the California Community Housing Agency, or CalCHA, which launched its first program in 2019.

Rent levels vary by income, but in the properties they purchase, rent reductions across the board average about 10 percent of what the previous owner charged, with greater reductions for the lowest-income units, according to John Pencover, managing director of CSCDA. and Jordan Moss, founder of Catalyst Housing Group, the main private company working with CalCHA.

Local subsidies.
Middle-income programs, as patrons describe them, are more than just real estate deals.

Joint Powers Authorities, which issue and manage bonds on behalf of local governments that join as members, help fund programs for middle-income people. They issue bonds and use the proceeds to buy real estate and pay private companies to arrange financing and manage the buildings.

Because the authorities are government entities, they do not have to pay property taxes. These savings are passed on to tenants in the form of lower rents, and the bonds attract investors with interest payments.

The bonds have a maturity period of about 30 years. Once they are paid off, proponents say the city can arrange to sell the property debt-free or manage the property and take out a loan on the buildings. The proceeds from either of these transactions go to the city, which should mean the city gets more money than the property taxes they lost on, proponents say.

Cities can force a sale or refinance as early as 15 years after the bonds are issued, though that would make it harder to get their money back.

Each project is unique, but joint powers tend to serve households at the upper end of what is considered low-income compared to those with middle incomes, with about the same number of apartments reserved for each income group.

To move in, renters must apply and certify that their income is within the required category.

Authorities said tenants who earned more and lived in the property before the agency acquired it are not evicted and can renew their leases as long as they want. Once they leave, those units become income-constrained.

In some cases, once a building is purchased, the rents for some income cap units are not reduced and the market rate is charged, but proponents say that over time, the rent increase restrictions built into the programs mean that these units must become cheaper than they otherwise would have been.

Sometimes the programs also provided subsidized housing to people who could qualify for traditional low-income housing projects based on their income related to the cost of living in their neighborhood. In expensive Marin County, this includes Maher’s teacher, who benefited from both the typical rent reduction through the program’s subsidy and the special subsidy for teachers offered by Catalyst.

For low- and middle-income moving-in renters, the benefits of luxury apartment living are evident in buildings such as Oceanaire, a 216-unit complex in downtown Long Beach, one of six projects that Waterford Property Co., a private. real estate investment firm, is running for CSCDA.

The nearly two acres of prime downtown land features a local clubhouse with chilled wine machines and a 24-hour fitness center overlooking the pool.

In the ground-floor courtyard, residents can relax on sofas perched on walkways that protrude like peninsulas into a large shallow pond designed to evoke the Indonesian island of Bali.

Inside, the apartments boast 10-foot ceilings, quartz countertops and spacious balconies.

According to bond documents, before CSCDA purchased the building in March, it cost $2,592 a month for a one-bedroom apartment and $3,569 for a two-bedroom apartment. Now a two-person household earning $75,680 or less — the lowest income group served by Oceanaire — will pay $2,102 for a one-bedroom apartment and $2,366 for a two-bedroom apartment, a 19 percent and 34 percent decrease, respectively.

The post Buy a luxury building, then lower the rent appeared first on CACX.

Community Advocates has worked for nearly twenty years to implement, enforce, and strengthen the housing element law. Through state legislative advocacy, precedent-setting litigation, and the work of local and regional coalitions in the Bay Area, we seek to make the promise of adequate affordable housing law in every community a reality.

Over the past two years, Community Advocates and our partners have actively advocated to ensure that Regional Housing Need Allocation (RHNA), which incentivizes local housing elements, combats racial segregation and displacement, and a fair share of housing available to low-income residents and people of color. This work used two fair housing laws that community advocates were instrumental in passing in 2018, AB686 (Santiago) and AB1771 (Bloom).

As a result of our advocacy, the final methodology adopted by the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) distributed 50,199 low-income housing units to the 49 most exclusive jurisdictions in the region and included a “fairness adjustment” that added 3,068 low-income units to 18 exceptional jurisdictions. cities and counties that would have otherwise received disproportionately low allocations.

28 cities and counties appealed their decisions. In August 2021, we sent a letter to our partners and allies at 6 Wins urging ABAG to reject all 28 appeals, noting that they did not meet the statutory requirements for reduced allocations. In November, ABAG rejected nearly all but one of the appeals, which found a minor calculation error.

Despite its diversity, the Bay Area is more segregated today than it was three decades ago. These campaign victories will have a major impact on advancing housing justice regionally and will open up great opportunities for local organizing and advocacy.

The post Protection of housing elements appeared first on CACX.