AB 519: Affordable Housing Finance Workgroup: affordable housing: consolidated application and coordinated review process.

Existing law establishes the Department of Housing and Community Development and sets forth its powers and duties, including promoting the development of affordable housing in the state. Existing law creates the California Housing Finance Agency within the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency and authorizes the agency to make loans to finance affordable housing. Existing law establishes the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee to allocate specified federal low-income housing tax credits. Existing law also establishes the California Debt Limit Allocation Committee for the purpose of implementing the volume limit for the state on private activity bonds established pursuant to federal law. Under existing law, the committees duties include annually determining a state ceiling on the aggregate amount of private activity bonds that may be issued, and allocating that amount among state and local agencies.

This bill would require specified reviewing entities, as defined as the above-described entities, to jointly convene an Affordable Housing Finance Workgroup to develop recommendations for state-administered programs to utilize a consolidated application for multifamily affordable rental housing developers to use to obtain grants, soft loans, low-income housing tax credits, tax exempt bonds, federal funds, as applicable, and other types of subsidies for building affordable housing, and develop a coordinated review process for the application, as described. The bill would require the workgroup to include representatives of the reviewing entities, nonprofit and for-profit affordable housing developers, and local and tribal governments. The bill would require the workgroup to identify specified information, including any state-administered program that may utilize the consolidated application and coordinated review process, and a timeline for developing a single consolidated application and coordinated review process. On or before, July 1, 2026, the bill would require the workgroup to report recommendations on implementing a single consolidated application and coordinated review process to the reviewing entities, the Legislature, and certain committees of the Legislature. The bill would require the reviewing entities to develop and report to the Legislature a plan to update state-administered programs that may utilize the consolidated application and coordinated review process based on the recommendations of the workgroup on or before January 1, 2027, as specified.