If you're a teacher, nurse, firefighter, police officer, construction worker, or another working Californian, you shouldn't have to choose between living near your job and being able to afford your home. But for too many middle-income families, that choice is becoming a reality. California has strong programs to help build affordable housing for lower-income families, but we have a major gap when it comes to homes for people who earn too much to qualify for those programs and still can't afford market-rate housing.

That's why I introduced AB 1294, a targeted pilot program in Sacramento, Alameda and San Francisco counties to help make it financially feasible to build more workforce housing for households earning up to 120% of the area median income. The bill would expand an existing property tax exemption for qualifying nonprofit housing, lowering the cost of developing and operating these homes while requiring them to remain affordable and below market rates. AB 1294 will help to build more homes for the people who teach our kids, care for our neighbors, keep us safe, and build our communities.

We know there is no single solution to California's housing crisis, but we need to keep looking for tools that can help us build the homes our communities actually need. AB 1294 gives us a chance to test a targeted approach, learn what works, and expand it if it helps more working Californians afford to live in the communities they serve. I'll keep working to make sure California builds housing for people at every income level, including the middle-income families who too often get left out.

Sincerely,

Matt Haney
Assemblymember, 17th District