Support the Preservation of Tens of Thousands Units of Affordable Housing

In the midst of our current crisis, California cannot allow tens of thousands of affordable units to disappear. A targeted tax credit that encourages property owners to sell to affordable housing developers committed to long-term affordability would help thousands of lower income households to remain in their homes and avoid displacement.

According to the California Housing Partnership, more than 1.2 million California households are in need of affordable housing. While it is important to increase the supply of affordable rental homes, we must also prioritize preserving the affordable housing that currently exists so that our need does not grow greater.

AB 1911 creates an Affordable Housing Preservation Tax Credit (AHPTC) to preserve existing affordable apartment properties and mobile-home parks. The AHPTC would provide a 50% credit (up to $20,000 per unit and $1 million per transaction) against the state and federal capital gains otherwise owed by the seller of an existing building or park if they sell to a nonprofit entity who will operate the property as affordable housing for low-income households for 55 years.

This smart front-end investment by the state will help keep tens of thousands of vulnerable Californians housed, all at a small fraction of the cost that otherwise would be required to build new units from scratch.