California Governor’s Proposal Worries Affordable Housing Advocates
By Caitlin Jones
1 min read
Tax Credit Advisor, March 2011: Affordable housing advocates, including those in the low-income housing tax credit industry, are distressed over a budget proposal by new California Gov. Jerry Brown to eliminate the state’s local redevelopment agencies and to redirect the use of the redevelopment funds that they now control.
Advocates argue that the proposal, if approved by the legislature, will reduce affordable housing production and jobs.
“It’s the biggest issue right now that we’re dealing with” in California in the affordable housing area, says Geoffrey Brown, president of USA Properties Fund, Inc., a major Sacramento area-based developer and manager of more than 70 LIHTC properties in California and Nevada. Brown said a number of his LIHTC projects have been funded in part by local development funds provided by redevelopment agencies (RDAs) and that he has commitments of funds for several new projects.
