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108 CALIFORNIA Former 'Foreclosure Capital' Fights Poverty Only a few years back, in 2012, the city of Stockton, California, was the "foreclosure capital" of the nation, with one in every 135 homes in foreclosure. e city was hit hard by the 2008 financial crisis, becoming the second-largest U.S. city to file for bankruptcy protection. Stockton left its bankruptcy in the rearview in February 2015, and now the city is trying out something potentially revolution- ary—attempting to help its struggling residents escape the grip of poverty and housing inse- curity with an experiment in Universal Basic Income (UBI). e notion of a Universal Basic Income is nothing new, but it's gained popularity among tech giants such as Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. Proponents of UBI posit that providing a guaranteed monthly income could help pull people out of poverty, provide stability during hard financial times, and even mitigate the impact of increasing automation as it renders more jobs or career fields obsolete. Stockton isn't looking to solve all those problems right out the gate. ey're starting small—as reported by CNN, the city's UBI program will give 100 local residents $500 a month for 18 months. For residents who qualify, there are no work requirements or any other "strings" attached. During a CNNMoney interview earlier this year, Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes said, "It is such a fundamental idea behind America that if you work hard, you can get ahead—and you certainly don't live in poverty. But that isn't true today, and it hasn't been true in the country for decades. I believe that unless we make significant changes today, the income inequality in our country will continue to grow and call into question the very nature of our social contract." Even having moved beyond bankruptcy, Stockton is still a strong candidate for a trial run at UBI. One in four of the city's residents currently live in poverty. e city's median income is a little over $49k, well below the na- tional median of $57,617. e project is expected to launch in 2019. While $500 a month might not seem like much in the grand scheme of things, its consistent, guaranteed nature could be quite a comfort for families struggling to make ends meet. As CNN describes it, "e goal is to cre- ate an income floor no one will fall beneath." adapt to what consumers are able and willing to pay, the United Way said, "there are many constraints on the housing market that prevent it from adjusting quickly." Aligning Housing and Sustainability Goals It has been a decade since the Sustainable Communities and Climate Protection Act (Senate Bill 375) was passed in California. A study by the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at the University of California at Berkeley explored how the housing provisions of SB 375 were implemented so far in an effort to better understand how the Golden State was positioned to advance the goals of this legislation. e study said California's experience in implementing this piece of legislation offered valuable lessons for other states and regions "at- tempting to mitigate climate change through sustainable development." It assessed the implications of SB 375 for real estate planning and production in the context of the legisla- tion's housing provisions that include housing affordability crisis and climate change. Using both interviews and data, the study provided recommendations to maximize SB 375's po- tential to address California's climate change management and home affordability needs. "High-growth U.S. metropolitan areas face two major crises: accelerating climate change and severe affordability problems," the researchers at Terner Center said. "e major metropolitan areas in California—Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area and San Diego—are among the most heavily impacted in the country. And the housing that has been produced has not been built in the places where it is most needed, either to alleviate the afford- ability crisis or to promote compact, transit- accessible development." e researchers found that while it was encouraging that California policymakers were addressing the problems of housing afford- ability and climate change together, SB 375 so far made far stronger impacts on planning processes than on actual development and laid the groundwork for a statewide shift in devel- opment patterns. ey said SB 375 was an "important and necessary step" to align housing and sustain- ability goals that deeply influenced the regional planning process in California. "However, the law's impact is limited by insufficient incentives and enforcement mechanisms," the study said. "On its own, and without increased funding and facilitation, SB Some 16.1 million U.S. households currently live in poverty. Moreover, according to the United Way's ALICE Project, another 34.7 million families fit under the category that gave ALICE its name. It stands for "Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed." Members of this group are technically above the Federal Poverty Line but are unable to meet the basic needs of housing, food, healthcare, childcare, and transportation. Households that fall below the "ALICE reshold" account for 43 percent of American households, and ALICE persists across all regions of the nation and among all ages, races, and ethnicities. More than two-thirds of U.S. jobs pay less than $20 per hour, according to ALICE Proj- ect data, and "the dominance of low-paying jobs shows no signs of slowing down." More than 30 percent of households in each state fall below the ALICE-defined "basic survival budget." Moreover, "One of the most difficult conditions that most ALICE households face is the high cost of housing," according to the ALICE Project. e ALICE Project identified a "mismatch between the number of households with income below the ALICE reshold and the number of housing units that they can afford in a given county." While markets generally CHRISTOPHER ROCKEY Former national real estate trainer for Fidelity National Financial. Give me a call, let's talk REO! Serving Sacramento, Placer, El Dorado, Santa Clara, and Contra Costa for more than 20 years. Rockey@RHomeSales.com 530.420.LIST ChristopherRockey.com YOUR QUEST FOR COMPLETE REO SERVICES ENDS HERE From BPO and occupancy checks to security and maintenance, we care for your property the way you do.

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