“Rule-following, legal precedence and political consistency are not more important than right, justice and plain common-sense.”

-W.E.B. Du Bois, “Black Reconstruction”

Common Sense: It’s not just for Thomas Paine

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

Happy Q2, for all that celebrate! I recently flew back from a work-trip to Vienna [1] and find myself asking where did the time go? We got so busy that I sort of forgot that newsletters don’t write themselves. But we’re back at it after a few months off!

In this newsletter, I’m excited to share with you a few updates on CCB’s work related to:

1. Our latest webinar

2. CCB’s sponsored legislation

3. Vienna & Social Housing

4. Middle-income report, in a new format

5. CCB in the media

The quote from W.E.B. Du Bois at the top of this newsletter pretty well sums up our thinking as we discuss our work this year. "Right, justice and plain common-sense" seems like a good set of guideposts to us.

Our work at CCB is, for better or worse, heavily biased in favor of things that just sort of make sense in a straightforward way. For-sale housing that relies solely on single-family home development is too expensive? Let’s explore less costly ways for families to own their own home, like condos, coops, and other forms of multifamily homeownership. There’s no money for income-restricted affordable homeownership? Let’s start down the path to create those resources (via AB 2140, discussed below). CCB’s staff is getting older and wants to retire some day? Let’s train up stellar young leaders so they can take our place someday.

So, while long-term innovation and perpetual curiosity are values we hold dear, we also believe in getting things done now — with the tools we have at hand. We look forward to working with you all to make that happen in the second-half of 2024 and coming years.

And that’s it, talk soon!

—Adam Briones, CEO

Notes

1. And boy are my arms tired!

Pictured above, gesticulating (left-right, top-bottom): Greg Magofna, Esmeralda Lopez, Noerena Limon, and Muhammad Alameldin

California Community Webinars

Last week, CCB’s very own Greg Magofña led a fantastic webinar on homeownership for middle-income Californians with our friends Esmeralda Lopez (UnidosUS), Noerena Limon (Mariposa Strategies), and Muhammad Alameldin (Terner Center). Don’t worry if you missed it, you can always check out the recording here.

Also, be sure to register for our next webinar on Friday, May 31, at 11 am. Our panel of experts will cover important legislation impacting housing and equity in California!

Pictured above: Assemblymember Juan Carrillo delivering remarks on AB 2140 to the California Latino Legislative Caucus. View the press conference here.

Pictured above (Left to right): Attorney General Rob Bonta, CCB CEO Adam Briones, and Assemblymember Buffy Wicks at a press conference in support of AB 1893.

California Community Legislation

We’re very happy to report that Assemblymember Juan Carrillo’s bill, AB 2140 (affordable homeownership study bill), co-sponsored by UnidosUS and CCB, is still alive! (Knock on wood.)

If AB 2140 is passed, it will provide for the first-ever study of how we create a large-scale financing system for affordable homeownership, similar to what we have for affordable rental housing. In March the bill passed out of the Assembly Housing Committee with an 8-0 vote and last month it was designated by the CA Latino Legislative Caucus as a priority bill for this session! Click here to learn more.

That said, AB 2140 needs your help! We have upcoming budget hearings that will determine if the proposed study bill will receive the resources it needs to accomplish it’s first-of-a-kind work. This is a tight budget year and every penny is being scrutinized closely, but we need legislators to understand that this expenditure (just $3 million in a state budget budget of about $290 billion) can help solve one of our state's biggest problems. Please take a moment to sign up here to show your support!

Lastly, CCB was honored to join Attorney General Rob Bonta and Assemblymember Buffy Wicks for a press conference on AB 1893, authored by Assemblymember Wicks and sponsored by AG Bonta, which if passed will modernize the Housing Accountability Act. Read more about it here!

Pictured above: An example of a Limited Profit Housing Association building in Vienna. CCB is in these (Viennese) streets.

International Community Builders

CCB would to like say a huge thank you to the Global Policy Leadership Academy – and the amazing team that put together the trip – for putting on an amazing visit to Vienna to study the city’s social housing model! The social housing model in Vienna provides affordable homes to a wide range of residents, including middle and lower-income groups, by offering a mix of municipal flats and subsidized dwellings. A significant share of the city’s population lives in these types of buildings, some of which are owned by their municipal housing agency while others are owned by Limited Profit Housing Associations.

It was a fantastic opportunity to spend a week learning about a successful approach to housing that so different from what exists in the US.

Our main takeaways from the trip are:

1. Having a closed mind to housing innovation is unproductive, and kind of boring. Rather than focusing on the difficulty of replicating Vienna’s exact social housing system, CCB believes it’s a lot more interesting to think about what components would fit best within the California/US context;

2. No housing system is perfect, including Vienna’s. It’s important to acknowledge that just because an idea is worth studying doesn’t mean it's perfect - Vienna's system has its own areas for improvement (especially related to immigrants); and

3. People matter, and they should matter more here in the US. One aspect of the Vienna model that California can and should import is a structural emphasis on the people living in housing, rather than just the housing itself.

Aside from the technical aspects of the trip, it was also an excellent opportunity to meet many other committed professionals from all over California and Oregon – all working on different parts of the housing ecosystem. The problems we’re attempting to solve can be overwhelming, so it’s always inspiring to meet other folks making a difference in their region and in their areas of work.

If you’d like to learn more the trip, we’d highly recommend reading Kirsty Lang's great article in The Guardian, "Could Vienna’s approach to affordable housing work in California?”

California Community Reports

Do you know we published a report on middle-income Californians a few months ago? Of course you do, because that’s all we talked about for ~8 weeks!

Until recently the report was web-only (and stretching our bare-bones website platform to the limit), but we’ve recently published a PDF version for anyone that wants a downloadable version.  

Give it a read if you haven’t already! 

California Community News

CCB is always excited to share our research and advocacy efforts with media outlets! See below for a round up of stories where CCB has been quoted or our work has been cited this year. 

You can always find a full, up-to-date listing on our website’s Media page as well as our LinkedIn.

• Could Vienna’s approach to affordable housing work in California?  

  The Guardian, April 30, 2024

• California’s housing crisis: what we don’t know does hurt us

  Capitol Weekly, March 4, 2024

• California Will Help Fund the Down Payment for Your First House. 

  KQED, February 19, 2024

• Teachers, baristas, state workers: Sacramento’s push to build middle-income 

  Yahoo! News, February 13, 2024

• California's Middle Class Declines as Low and High Incomes Surge, Study Shows 

  KQED, February 8, 2024

• Dream for All: Down payment assistance for first-time California homebuyers 

  Cal Matters, January 18, 2024

• These New California Housing Laws Are Going Into Effect in 2024 

  KQED, January 2, 2024