$20 billion affordable housing bond on November ballot

Bay Area voters will get to decide on a first-of-its kind housing bond in November.

Officials from the Bay Area’s counties and major cities voted unanimously on June 26 to put a $20 billion regional general obligation bond on the Nov. 5 ballot. If passed by voters, the measure would distribute the sizable chunk of change for affordable housing construction and preservation among nine counties. 

According to Bay Area Housing Finance Authority Director Kate Hartley, Contra Costa County would be in line to receive $1.9 billion, an unspecified portion of which could be spent helping Richmond’s unhoused and rent-burdened residents.

“It’s really an unprecedented amount of funds for every county in the region, and a lot for Contra Costa County. In addition to that, BAHFA retains 20% of the funds we raise,” Hartley said. “But we’re going to be taking that money and working in every community. So we will be making additional investments in Contra Costa County so that there’s even more new affordable housing production in that county.”

Contra Costa County, like many counties in the state, has had to grapple with increasing numbers of unhoused people. During the county’s Point in Time count this year, officials identified 2,843 people experiencing homelessness — a 471 person increase from 2023, according to data shared in early June by Contra Costa County District 2 Supervisor Candace Andersen on her E-newsletter.

The majority of the homeless people in west Contra Costa County are in Richmond, according to the data. In total, 388 people were experiencing homelessness in the city on the day of the count versus 114 in the other eight cities in the area, although those who work with homeless people on a daily basis estimate that the number could be more than double that.

Hartley said the need for more affordable housing is compounded by the number of units required by the state’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA), which tells cities how much new housing is required to accommodate current and future housing needs.

“It is over 21,000 homes so it’s pretty daunting,” Hartley said. “So between the RHNA obligations and a pretty high number of households experiencing homelessness, compounded by the basic lack of affordability, the majority of low income tenants who are renting are rent-burdened. There’s a lot of people who are living paycheck to paycheck and devoting 50% or sometimes more of their incomes to rent, and rents keep going up and it’s a very destabilizing situation.”

Bay Area facing its ‘most significant housing crisis’

Officials spent months weighing the option of proposing a $10 billion bond versus $20 billion, ultimately choosing the higher amount. 

“The Bay Area is facing the most significant housing crisis in the region’s history because as a region it has failed to produce enough housing at all income levels, preserve affordable housing, protect existing residents from displacement, provide adequate housing at all income levels in close proximity to jobs, and address the housing issue regionally,” members of the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority board explained in the legislation advancing the bond measure.

Two-thirds of all voters will need to approve the bond for it to pass. 

However, another item on the November ballot, Assembly Constitutional Amendment 1, asks voters to drop the threshold for passing affordable housing and infrastructure bonds to 55%. If that statewide measure passes, the new rules would apply immediately, and the regional housing bond would only need 55% of the vote to pass, instead of two-thirds.

A poll conducted by the finance authority found that 74% of residents in the Bay Area are worried about their friends and family being able to afford living here. But that concern may not translate into an appetite for a new bond. The nine-county region deciding on this measure includes a diverse range of voters with different perspectives on housing and taxes. For example, in the East Bay, Oakland voters approved a local housing bond in 2022 while Berkeley residents rejected theirs.

The Authority estimates that property owners would be taxed at an average rate of $19 per $100,000 in assessed property value, to fund the bonds. That means if your home is assessed at $700,000, you’d be taxed, on average, about $130 a year. The tax is expected to be collected for the next 50 or so years.

The revenue from the measure would be distributed among counties proportional to their respective tax contributions. However, four cities—Oakland, San Jose, Santa Rosa, and Napa — would each receive an additional direct allotment because they each hold more than 30% of their county’s “low-income housing need.” Twenty percent of the funds, or $4 billion, would be used to launch a new regional program funding housing.

Each city and county receiving the funds must spend at least 52% of the money on building new low-income housing, and at least 15% on preserving existing affordable homes.

Elected officials, government staffers, and affordable housing developers are banking on the passage of the bond. It comes at a time when local governments are facing gaping deficits and barriers to building homes.

If the measure passes, an oversight committee will be established and independent audits will be conducted annually. The nine counties voting on the bond measure are Alameda, Contra Costa, Napa, Marin, Santa Clara, San Francisco, San Mateo, Solano, and Sonoma.

According to Gabriel Lemus, assistant deputy director of Contra Costa County’s Housing and Community Improvement, if the measure passes the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors in conjunction with county staff would have to create an expenditure plan which would then be presented to the board during a public meeting.

At the earliest, Lemus said, the presentation to the board would happen on Feb. 6, 2025.

This article was updated to correct a typographical error and show that under the measure, property owners would be taxed at an average rate of $19 per $100,000 of assessed value.