Affordable housing bond ballot measure now set for $20 billion instead of $10 billion
The Sonoma Sun newspaper was just notified that early this afternoon, the BAHFA (Bay Area Housing Finance Authority) Board voted to increase the planned Affordable Housing bond on this November’s ballot from $10 billion to $20 billion.
Accordingly, the amount projected for each of the nine Bay Area counties and the cities within each county has increased.
At the time of our last article about the ballot measure, the amounts each city in Sonoma County would receive was not yet forecast, however it now appears the city of Sonoma will receive between $15 – $23 million, depending upon the allocation methodology, a matter still under consideration. At this point the distribution criteria include:
- By share of lower income (very low and low)
- By share of population
- By share of county’s population below poverty line
- By assessed value of property
Sonoma County will potentially receive $525,000,000 of the bond proceeds. Of that, 52% ($273 million) would be allocated to housing production; 15% ($79 million) to preservation; 5% ($26 million) to tenant protection; and 28% ($147 million) as flexible funding.
The passage of the bond measure requires voter approval, and as noted in our previous article, that approval will require 67% of “yes” votes unless a California Constitutional Amendment lowering that requirement to 55%, also on the November ballot, passes.
— Larry Barnett
