California's legislature is considering several housing bills this week. Senate Bills 2, 3 and 35 all seek to increase affordable housing in California.
Take Two spoke with Capitol Public Radio reporter Ben Adler to explain the bills.
Senate Bill 2:
"That is a proposal to put a new $75 fee on real estate transaction documents, but not including home sales. There could be up to three per transaction, and of course there are many documents in each transaction so it would be up to $225. This is talking about just another fee in the closing costs, so proponents feel like it is not going to be felt quite as much, and it also doesn’t affect home buyers, so they feel that is perhaps the best of the options to raise money to help subsidize affordable housing projects."
Senate Bill 3:
"This is a housing bond. At this point, we don’t know exactly how large it will be. Current language has it at $3 billion… but, there is a proposal from Treasurer Chiang and some housing groups who did some polling and said voters would support a $6 billion bond or even a $9 billion housing bond."
Senate Bill 35:
"This would force cities and counties that fail to meet state-mandated housing production goals to approve multi-family urban development projects that meet certain requirements, like paying construction workers a prevailing wage, and also complying with zoning regulations in that area… Essentially, it seeks to streamline the development process for multi-family units in cities and counties that are falling short of state-mandated housing goals."
To listen to the full segment, click the blue play button above.