State Democrats roll out plan to fund construction of affordable housing

State lawmakers and Mayor Eric Garcetti gathered in Chinatown Wednesday to announce a bundle of bills that, if passed, would collectively infuse more than $800 million into future affordable housing projects in California, nearly making up for the loss of redevelopment funds.

State Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins said developers who build low-income housing all but left the state after redevelopment funds dried up.

"There needs to be an ongoing sustainable, certain amount for developers to take the risk,” she said at the press conference. “So we are looking to have developers develop housing.”

The plan would need approval from legislature and Gov. Jerry Brown. Brown's office said he had no comment.

One of the bills would create a $75 fee on real estate transactions documents, excluding home sales. A spokesman said it's expected to raise $500 million per year.

Another would greatly expand the state's Low Income Housing Tax Credit program, which gives tax breaks to investors who finance affordable housing projects. The current program is capped at $70 million per year, and would increase to $370 million.

The proposal by Assembly Democrats also sets rules for how the state will spend millions of dollars from the federal government's National Housing Trust Fund, which is due to flow to states next year.

These three sources would collectively bring in about $900 million per year for affordable housing developments in California, where housing costs are among the highest in the nation and continue to climb.

“This legislative package of new funding for affordable housing, financial incentives for preservation and construction, and improving government efficiency to get the most for every dollar we invest is a balanced, common sense approach that will make life easier for thousands of L.A. families and tremendously boost our economy,” Garcetti said.

The state has provided little funding for affordable housing since 2011, when Gov. Brown did away with redevelopment agencies, which got about $1 billion in tax revenue for affordable housing.

"We're talking about restoring a program that worked," Atkins said. "But we are having to do it with a number of different mechanisms and ways of getting there.”

Atkins' proposal also calls for using some money saved by Proposition 47 to invest in rapid rehousing for men and women recently released from jail and prison.

Passed in 2014, Proposition 47 reduces penalties for drug offenders; very few now serve time behind bars for their crimes. The law calls for some of the savings from incarceration costs to be applied to housing and treatment for former inmates.

This story has been updated.