Bill aims to make Sacramento an affordable housing model

The bill, AB1426, represents a change in focus by one of the Assembly's most influential members, from growth management and sprawl to affordable housing. Steinberg's AB680 last year aimed to curb suburban sprawl by sharing sales taxes and equalizing finances among Sacramento-area cities. But as opponents multiplied statewide and painted the idea as a tax grab, the bill became a vehicle to talk instead about suburbs ducking their share of low-income housing.

Applauded by home builders, several cities and business groups Tuesday, the new bill follows the AB680 approach of using state authority to force changes in a metropolitan region. Steinberg's office also argues it still promotes less sprawl because lower-income housing typically puts more people on less land than a standard subdivision.

The bill requires that 10 percent of new houses and apartments in 18 cities of metropolitan Sacramento be affordable to lower-income workers. Presently the regional average is 4 percent, Steinberg said, while fewer than 3 percent of new homes in many suburbs are within reach of low-income residents.

Steinberg defined very low income as a Sacramento janitor earning $17,576 a year, and low income as a firefighter with a salary of $38,126.

The assemblyman, chairman of the powerful Appropriations Committee, said this year will be different because "it's fair to say the entire region, the vast majority of leaders in the region, are behind this concept." But many of last year's suburban opponents were noticeably absent during a news conference filled with supporters.

Steinberg's idea is to spread more equally low-income housing across a region of nearly 2 million people rather than concentrate most in older Sacramento neighborhoods and inner-ring 1960s suburbs. In a city that aims to make 15 percent of its new housing "affordable," some areas have witnessed visible decline, empty storefronts and crime.

Backers say the bill will spread 1,000 new affordable units yearly across a region where home prices have sharply escalated under pressure from affluent Bay Area buyers.

Estimates are the six-county region needs 20,000 new houses and apartments yearly to accommodate 1 million more residents expected by 2020.

The bill aims to reward cities that build new cheaper housing by pooling state and federal housing funds for subsidies, and by giving them priority for state spending on parks, roads, water and sewer projects. The proposal also makes it harder for suburban opponents to derail low-income housing plans. Cities would get stronger legal authority against lawsuits and win attorneys fees in failed court challenges to their projects. Developers, too, could appeal some local government rejections to the state.<