Issue link: http://dsnews.uberflip.com/i/1045643
94 CALIFORNIA Hard Times in Bay Area for Low-Income Housing In 2017, California's Bay Area cities and counties were far behind in catering to the hous- ing demand for low to moderate income levels, according to a report released by the Association of Bay Area Government (ABAG). e report revealed that the region saw an additional 27,103 new housing units in 2017, as com- pared to 2016 (20,868) or 2015 (20,495). However, only 18 percent of these units were for very low- to moderate-income residents, a number that is far be- low the 58 percent required by California's Housing and Community Development Department. "With this new data, we can clearly see that more housing development is on the way, but we're still far behind in meeting the housing demand for all income levels," said David Rabbitt, President, ABAG and Sonoma County Supervisor. "e work that is being done at ABAG and at the Met- ropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) in the Committee to House the Bay Area, known as CASA, is urgently needed to bring Bay Area leaders together to solve this problem." New data on ABAG's web portal now includes complete datasets from 2014 to 2017 and will continue to be updated to incorporate housing permit and policy activities for cities and counties from 2018 onwards. According to the ABAG, these datasets pro- vide a resource to shape both the development and evaluation of housing policies for Bay Area and will help support MTC's funding initia- tives, which include the One Bay Area Grant program and the new Housing Incentive Pool challenge grant program. Both these initiatives help to permit, produce and preserve hous- ing. e Housing Incentive Pool rewards local governments that permit or preserve the greatest number of housing units for households belong- ing to very low- to moderate-income levels. California's housing shortages have been an ongoing and high-profile problem for the state. According to the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), only 13 cities (2.4 percent of the total) met their full goals in 2017. Put another way, 97.6 percent of cities did not meet their full goals. ose goals are mandated by Califor- nia's Regional Housing Needs Allocation and Housing Elements (RHNA) rules, which were implemented in 1969 and require "that all local governments (cities and counties) adequately plan to meet the housing needs of everyone in the community." Moreover, 70 percent of Cali- fornia cities failed to meet their housing goals for any income level. DS News is the leading publication dedicated to providing default servicing professionals with news and content focused on their industry. SUBSCRIBE TO THE LEADER IN DEFAULT SERVICING NEWS SUBSCRIBE NOW! Call 214.525.6700 or connect with us online at DSNews.com.