40,000 California Housing Units are Stuck in ‘Financial Purgatory’

Financial strain is holding back close to 40,000 housing units in the production pipeline in California, according to reporting by Ben Christopher in CALmatters.

The data comes from a report from Enterprise Community Partners, a nationwide affordable housing nonprofit, which found that 461 “shovel-ready” projects are waiting in limbo, fully designed and permitted but without sufficient funds to start construction. Each funding delay can set back a project by an average of four months and add over $20,000 in cost per unit. “With a combination of number crunching and a little inference, the report estimates that clearing the current backlog would require an extra $4.1 billion, split between state administered grants, low-cost loans and tax write-offs.” 

To date, California has allocated roughly $1.8 billion for affordable development this year, with no new discretionary spending in Gov. Newsom’s proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year. But some changes are coming: “The California Housing and Homelessness Agency is scheduled to take over the state’s disparate housing loan and grant programs,” and lawmakers are considering a $10 billion affordable housing bond measure for the November ballot.