Letters: Too Much Debt

Letters: Too Much Debt

by Susan Kirsch
September 22,2024

Too much debt

Proposition 5 will introduce a tsunami of long-termdebt.

Prop 5 will reduce the approval threshold for localaffordable housing and public infrastructure bonds from the current two-thirdsvoter requirement to 55%, making it easier for cities, counties and specialdistricts to pass these measures.

California Voice: Proposition 5 a turbo engine for raising property taxes

California Voice: Proposition 5 a turbo engine for raising property taxes

By SUSAN SHELLEY
August 24, 2024

Proposition 5 makes it easier to raise property taxes.
The November ballot measure gets around Proposition 13’s limitations on property tax increases by making it easier for local governments to pass bonds, a method of borrowing money that is then paid back — with interest — by adding extra charges to property tax bills, sometimes for decades.

Why the critical housing bond died

Why the critical housing bond died

By TIM REDMOND
AUGUST 15, 2024

The $20 billion regional housing bond that was supposed to be on the November ballot would have been a game changer. The money would have paid for 70,000 units of non-market affordable housing, enough to make a dramatic difference in homelessness, housing costs, air quality, and so, so much more. Nolw it’s gone.

Bond voyage: Supporters yank California’s largest-ever affordable housing measure

Bond voyage: Supporters yank California’s largest-ever affordable housing measure

BY BEN CHRISTOPHER
AUGUST 14, 2024

Backers pulled a $20 billion affordable housing bond off Bay Area ballots today, amid fears that it wouldn’t pass.
A $20 billion affordable housing bond — which would have been the largest ever of its kind and the subject of a campaign half-a-decade in the making — won’t go before San Francisco Bay Area voters this November after all. This morning, the board of the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority voted to scrap the measure for now, potentially punting the effort until at least 2026.

Bond voyage: Supporters yank California’s largest-ever affordable housing measure

Billions more for California housing? Why some construction unions aren’t sold yet

By Ben Christopher
August 13, 2024

California’s most unaffordable region is set to vote on a record-breaking affordable housing bond. Will state Democrats add a pro-union requirement to win over a powerful labor coalition?
But before developers, workers, pro-tenant and pro-building activists can start campaigning for the blockbuster borrowing measure in earnest, they’ll need to stop squabbling over who will get hired to build all the new homes and under what conditions.

BAHFA blunders on ballot language for RM4; gets busted for wildly lowballing cost to taxpayers

BAHFA blunders on ballot language for RM4; gets busted for wildly lowballing cost to taxpayers

By Jason Bezis, Esq
August 8, 2024

A group of residents opposed to a $20 billion regional housing bond measure filed a court challenge today to Regional Measure 4’s (RM4) 75- word ballot question. Opponents’ Attorney Jason Bezis sent BAHFA a letter last Friday demanding a series of nine language changes to remove prejudicial language. Opponents assert that the true annual cost of the measure is nearly 36% higher than the amount shown in the ballot question.