California Construction News staff writer
With a goal of increasing affordable housing stock and capacity for additional climate-smart infill housing, Governor Gavin Newsom announced the first funding awards under a new streamlined application process aimed at accelerating the development of new projects while saving time and money at the local level.
Communities across California were awarded more than $825.5 million to build 9,550 homes as part of a new funding approval process that eliminates the need for a developer to submit multiple applications. This includes about $700 million in funds for multifamily development and $125 million for infill development.
Changes were needed because the application process to receive state housing funding in California was “needlessly complex, and time consuming,” Newsom said. Now, what previously required four separate applications has been narrowed down to just one submission.
“As we demand more housing to be built at the local level, it is incumbent upon the state to reimagine and modernize our own approval process,” he said. “State applications that were once redundant, and overly bureaucratic, are now streamlined to ensure projects are not stalled in an endless bureaucracy that favored process over production.”
Under this new approach, requests for housing development funds have soared. The first round of new Multifamily Finance Super Notice of Funding Availability (Super NOFA) received more than $3.5 billion in developer requests – a sharp contrast to years of undersubscription.
“The California Multifamily Super NOFA transformed a once burdensome and lengthy funding application process into an accessible and smart one-stop shop that will get more housing built faster,” said Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency Secretary Lourdes Castro Ramírez. “This results in new homes for struggling working families, veterans, farmworkers, and people exiting homelessness. California will continue to act with urgency to find new, innovative solutions to fast track housing development.”
The goal is to building 2.5 million homes — with one million affordable homes — by 2030.
“Our simple approach to funding helps us accelerate much-needed construction and ensure the lowest-income Californians have access to quality homes near jobs, transit, schools, and other necessities,” said HCD director Gustavo Velasquez.
