PRESS RELEASE

January 29, 2004

Sacramento — Only 47 of the state’s 120 legislators received a 100% rating in the Housing Legislative Scorecard released today by Housing California, a statewide coalition of nonprofit housing developers, homeless service providers, and other affordable housing advocates. The scorecard ranks lawmakers based on their voting record on housing and homeless bills from the 2003 legislative session. Of these 47 legislators, 20 represent the Los Angeles area.

The scorecard records legislators’ votes on 15 key affordable housing and homeless bills. Ten of the 15 became law, with impacts ranging from increasing the amount of supportive housing for disabled homeless people to protecting tenants’ security deposits to expediting building of new affordable housing.

“A core group of legislators are committed to seeking solutions to the state's housing crunch,” said Julie Snyder, legislative advocate for Housing California. “We applaud their consistent support for measures that will actually increase the number of Californians who can afford safe decent housing.”

However, legislators’' lack of support on major land use and fiscal reforms has stymied other crucial housing-related legislation, including AB 1221 (Steinberg and Campbell), SB 744 (Dunn and Ducheny), SCA 11 (Alarcón), and ACA 14 (Steinberg). These measures were not included on the scorecard, because they did not reach the floor of either house last year.

“The housing crisis should be a top priority for California legislators,” said G. Allan Kingston, President/CEO of Century Housing in Culver City, and a Housing California Board Member. “Even a glance at the statistics of dropping homeownership rates, falling real incomes and the shortage of housing for the workforce indicate that this is a very serious situation in our state.”

“While economists generally consider it necessary to produce one new housing unit for every 1.5 new jobs, the state as a whole added 3 new jobs for every housing unit built. In Los Angeles, from 1994 to 2002, the economy added 5.2 new jobs for every unit added to the housing stock. This continuing shortfall in housing production has contributed to the ever-growing price spiral as more working families compete for fewer homes. Some lawmakers understand the urgency of this crisis; those that do not understand it should take a long look at the data, and support the legislation that will move California toward a housing solution,” said Kingston.

The scorecard’s release comes at a time when constituents are paying attention to their legislators’ actions on housing issues. According to a September 2003 national survey conducted by the National Association of Realtors, 71% percent of Americans want their government to place a higher priority on making housing affordable for renters and homeowners. Sixty-seven percent would be more likely to vote for a candidate who works to make housing more affordable.

Housing California will issue a Fall update to the Housing Legislative Scorecard to keep constituents informed about their legislators’ ranking on housing.

“We encourage constituents to use the scorecards to hold local legislators accountable for their actions,” said Snyder.