Habitat Speaks Up at the Capitol

If you've had your eye on our social media stories recently, you know that we've been on the move, advocating for Habitat's legislative priorities in Sacramento and Washington, D.C. In February, we took our case straight to our Capitols alongside fellow advocates from Habitat affiliates up and down the state and across the nation. These focused days of action — Advocacy Day in Sacramento and Habitat on the Hill in Washington —  are intended to make a concentrated impact, lifting up affordable homeownership as a key issue for our policymakers across all the places Habitat serves. However, the real work of advocacy is in carrying the conversation forward. And that is where we need you, our community, to let your representatives know these issues matter to you.

How Lawmakers Can Support Affordable Homeownership in California

• CalHome: There is one state program that funds the production and preservation of affordable homes for ownership: CalHome. CalHome has gotten zero investment for two consecutive years and, once again, we're facing a proposed budget without a dollar allocated for this critical program. We are asking for $500 million for CalHome in this year's state budget. This meaningful investment in CalHome is what's needed to change the story of housing in our state. We simply will not move the needle without investing in supply, and we won't create lasting opportunity without investing in ownership. Investing in CalHome means thousands more Californians having access to homeownership — and all the opportunities that start at the doorstep of a home that you can own.
  
  
• Additional legislation: Habitat is sponsoring a bill that would ensure newly-built, affordable for-sale homes can be sold more quickly to income-eligible homebuyers, and we're supporting legislation that would make it more feasible and cost-effective to build affordable ownership housing on unused state excess land. Both of these bills would not cost the state additional funds, but they could have a major impact on our work throughout the state.

How Lawmakers Can Support Affordable Homeownership Across the Nation

We are in a unique moment at the federal level. Housing — and homeownership in particular — has become a priority issue in communities of every geography and size and political leaning, and lawmakers are listening. It means we have an opportunity here to make meaningful progress on legislation that can get more homes built and open more access to the housing opportunity that is so critically needed across our country.

• Move housing legislation forward: We've had some very promising bipartisan momentum on packages of housing bills through both chambers of Congress. In fact, we were thrilled to present one of the leaders in that effort with a Habitat Housing Champion Award — our very own Representative Sam Liccardo, former Mayor of San José, who has continued to work toward housing solutions with passion and partnership. During our time in Washington, Habitat advocates encouraged our leaders to keep pushing to get this important legislation across the finish line. 
• Invest in proven programs: We advocated for some of the key programs that Habitat depends on, including the HOME Investments Partnership Program, Community Development Block Grants, AmeriCorps, and the CDFI fund — all of which we use right here at home in the East Bay and Silicon Valley. We also encouraged robust funding for programs that impact Habitat's ability to serve in other communities, such as the Self-Help Homeownership Opportunity Program (SHOP) and the USDA Section 502 Direct Loan Program. 
• Develop a dedicated resource for starter homes: We also sought champions to work with Habitat on a new, dedicated financial resource for boosting the supply of affordable homes for ownership. This would be a first-of-its-kind, exclusive program for accelerating our nation's affordable homeownership stock and broadening access for those who need it.

How you can support our efforts