Darrel Steinberg (D-Sacramento) is state Senate president pro tempore and a strong supporter of affordable housing in the California Legislature. The Senator had written a viewpoint for the Sacramento Bee, and SCANPH would like to share the link with our members here.
Excerpts from Senator Steinberg's viewpoint (copyrighted by the Sacramento Bee)
"As the reality of the state Supreme Court's decision on redevelopment settles in, the overarching question looms – what now? The court's controversial judgment may actually provide the single biggest opportunity in decades to remake, for the better, the difficult relationship between the state and city governments.
We come to this point because last year, as part of addressing the state's budget deficit, the Legislature eliminated redevelopment and then recreated it at a reduced funding level. We took this unorthodox action because Proposition 22, sponsored by cities in 2010, prohibited the state from slimming down redevelopment, even to help fund schools.
The cities sued, hoping the court would stop the state from touching redevelopment in any way. Instead, the court ruled that the elimination was legal; our attempt to soften the blow by reconstructing redevelopment was not. This was not our desired result, but too often, all or nothing leads to nothing.
The outcome was especially unfortunate because most redevelopment in Sacramento and other state localities accomplished important advances. Downtown projects like the Citizen Hotel and the Maydestone Apartments rehabilitated historic Sacramento buildings while kick-starting downtown business and expanding workforce housing. McClellan Park created 15,000 jobs, becoming a model for converting shuttered military bases.
The positive prospect in the aftermath of redevelopment's demise is that the court's decision did not close all doors. This is the opportunity to take a defeat, turn it around, and regenerate an even better job creation and economic development approach for California's communities..."
Take Action on on redevelopment and help protect housing funds now!
In continuing efforts to increase access to supportive housing for high utilizers of public health resources, and maximize the efficient use of scarce public resources, City and County Departments issued the first collaborative Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) last month.
