The Debt Limit Allocation Committee, which controls the allotment of bonds, allocated the funds for housing, first prioritizing those that serve extremely low income residents, said committee chair and Treasurer Fiona Ma after the meeting. “They are the most vulnerable populations,” she said.
Ma had earlier said the state had important priorities other than housing and suggested some of the Brightline bonds could go to non-housing uses such as waste facilities. But she said there were no such projects ready to go.
“It’s a great outcome,” Matt Schwartz, president and chief executive officer of the California Housing Partnership, was quoted as saying. He said housing is the “state’s number one priority.”
“This decision will result in 2,600 additional affordable homes and boost economic activity at a time when the state needs both desperately,” he said.