TITLE
Recommendation to request City Council to support SB679 (Kamlager), which would create a new independent countywide agency to raise public and private funds for renter protections and support programs, affordable housing preservation, and affordable housing production-with a guaranteed seat for the City of Long Beach on the governing board and guaranteed annual funding for the City of Long Beach; and request City Manager to communicate the City’s support to the bill’s author and our state legislative delegation.
DISCUSSION
Background
Senate Bill 679 by Senator Sydney Kamlager would create a new, independent countywide agency that has the power to raise public and private revenues to fund renter protections and support programs, affordable housing preservation, and affordable housing production across Los Angeles County.
In a December 30, 2020 memorandum to City Manager Tom Modica, City staff made clear what many previous independent reports and council deliberations have already told us: the 2012 dissolution of Community Redevelopment Agencies eliminated our most dependable source of locally generated revenue for affordable housing preservation and production.' Without a local source of revenue for supporting low-income renters and financing affordable housing, Long Beach is at a competitive disadvantage for state and federal programs, and the City lacks the funding certainty necessary to achieve its ambitious affordable housing goals as outlined in the draft Housing Element released this past July.
SB 679, which has been approved by the State Senate on a bipartisan 29-7 vote, now sits in the State Assembly. The bill would create a new independent countywide agency with a 19-member government board-comprised of County Supervisors, large and small city representatives, and housing experts, as well as a Citizens Oversight Committee comprised of housing experts, practitioners, and people with lived experience with homeless ness and housing instability. ...
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