NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – State Senate Governance and Finance Committee Chair Mike McGuire, co-author of the Senate’s Affordable Housing Bond, lauded the approval in his committee on Wednesday morning of SB 3, the $3 billion affordable housing bond.

“We have an affordable and workforce housing crisis in California, and the state needs to step up and provide the resources and long term investments needed to get this housing built in communities big and small,” Sen. McGuire said. “This bond will help secure homeownership for thousands of California families and finance tens of thousands of units up and down the Golden State.”

As co-author, McGuire worked to ensure rural counties and small cities would benefit from these funds. $300 million will be set aside for rural counties to build affordable housing out of the $1.5 billion dollar multifamily housing program that exists in the bond.

Counties that have 150,000 residents or less will be able to apply for technical assistance grants relating to environmental review or engineering studies associated with the development of new affordable housing communities that are financed through the bond.

A breakdown of the bond funding’s benefits for rural communities is as follows:

– $300 million (10%) to CalHome. This program provides grants to local public agencies and nonprofit developers to assist individual households through deferred-payment loans. This program tends to be a favorite in more rural communities because it can be used for both programs and projects for a variety of homeownership activities – new construction, acquisition/rehab, self-help such as Habitat for Humanity, rehabilitation, mobile home park improvements, etc.

– $300 million (10%) Farmworker Housing Program. This program finances the new construction, rehabilitation and acquisition of owner-occupied and rental units for agricultural workers, with a priority for lower income households.

– $1.5 billion (50%) Multifamily Housing Program. The Multifamily Housing Program (MHP) assists the new construction, rehabilitation, and preservation of permanent and transitional rental housing for lower-income households through loans to local governments and non- and for-profit developers. Under MHP regulations, 20 percent must go to rural areas.

– $300 million (10%) Local Housing Trust Fund Matching Grant Program. This provides matching grants to local governments and nonprofits that raise money for affordable housing.