The California Strategic Growth Council presented multiple grant programs that fund affordable housing, sustainable transportation, agricultural land conservation and community resilience projects.

Why it matters: SGC programs provide funding designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, support disadvantaged communities and preserve agricultural land, using cap-and-trade (cap-and-invest) funds and the Climate Bond (Prop 4).

Adrienne Ritz, special advisor with the Strategic Growth Council, described AHSC (Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities), which pairs affordable housing with sustainable transportation, urban greening and resident programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The council has administered nine rounds of AHSC, funded more than 22,000 affordable homes and indicated Round 9 had about $775 million in awards; Round 9 awards were expected to be presented at the council’s December meeting and Round 10 will follow.

Ritz also summarized the redesigned factory-built housing pilot, which will support both manufacturing facilities and predevelopment activities, and said the program was entering a public comment period and would open in December. The Sustainable Agricultural Lands Conservation program (SALC) was discussed; it funds planning, acquisition and capacity-building grants and is moving to a rolling cycle after awarding $128 million in planning and acquisition grants in the current round to preserve more than 11,000 acres.

Ritz noted two Prop 4-funded programs — Transformative Climate Communities (TCC) and Community Resilience Centers (CRC) — are in public comment periods and that proposed timeline changes would shorten grant execution time and move more resources into predevelopment.

SGC encouraged applicants to consult sgc.ca.gov and follow public comment and NOFA announcements on those program pages; SGC staff said they would be available during office hours and breakout sessions for questions.