California State Senate Leader Committed To Affordable Housing
PALO ALTO (KCBS) – Even though the state is in a dire fiscal situation, California Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said there will still be room for affordable housing.
He told the audience at the Housing Trust of Santa Clara County 2011 Investor Briefing in Palo Alto that homelessness doesn't have to include hopelessness.
KCBS' Mike Colgan Reports:
"There is still hope for affordable housing because the legislature is committed to finding a permanent source for affordable housing that can be generated annually," said Steinberg. "Even if we eliminate redevelopment, we are committed to then recreating it and making sure that that 20 percent set aside that currently exists in law is maintained."
Kevin Zwick, Executive Director of the Housing Trust of Santa Clara County, said the loss of redevelopment funding would be devastating.
"One of the unintended consequences of getting rid of redevelopment is the fact that it eliminates the largest source of affordable housing funding statewide and really the only amount of money that local city governments have to put into affordable housing," said Zwick.
Statewide, that is $1 billion a year. Overall, more than seven thousand people are homeless on any given night in Santa Clara County.
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