Assembly hears plan to create California Housing and Homelessness Agency and a housing finance committee to speed affordable housing funding

Assembly committees heard detailed testimony and stakeholder testimony on the governor's plan to split the Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency and to create a California Housing and Homelessness Agency (CHHA) with a Housing Development and Finance Committee aimed at aligning and speeding state affordable-housing financing.

Secretary Tamika Moss and housing agency leaders described the CHHA as a structural change to improve program alignment across HCD, CalHFA, the Civil Rights Department and other entities, with an explicit goal of simplifying funding award processes and reducing timelines and costs for affordable-housing projects. Gustavo Velasquez, director of the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), said HCD has provided funding for about 60,000 new affordable homes and helped local governments plan to accommodate 2.5 million new homes; he argued a dedicated cabinet-level agency would sustain momentum and improve coordination. Rebecca Franklin, chief deputy director at the California Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA), said the structure is designed to "facilitate this work through focused leadership, streamlined and transparent decision making, and effective use of state dollars." (testimony)

Why it matters: Housing…