2009 Policy Priorities


Sacramento Needs to Act!


The Right Medicine for What Ills California
CBIA is asking state lawmakers and Congress both to provide the incentives necessary to put housing on the path to recovery.  With your help, CBIA can put the following solutions into action: 

CBIA POLICY PROPOSAL:  A homebuyer tax credit.

The homebuilder-sponsored state tax credit passed the Legislature as part of the budget compromise in February, 2009. Details include:

• A tax credit of up to $10,000 credit (5 percent of home price or $10,000, whichever is less) for the purchase of a newly constructed, previously unoccupied home.

• Available March 1, 2009, until March 1, 2010, or when funding authority runs out – whichever comes first ($100 million was allocated to program).

• Allocated by the state’s Franchise Tax Board (FTB) on a first-come, first-served basis (details still to be worked out).

• Paid out to home purchasers over three tax years in equal amounts (i.e. $3,333 for 2009, $3,333 for 2010, etc.).

• Purchasers must reside in the home for at least two years.

• There are no income limitations that have to be met by purchasers.

• There is no first-time homebuyer requirement.

• There is no repayment requirement (unless the purchaser sells, rents out, etc., before two years expire).


CBIA POLICY PROPOSAL:   A five-year  extension of subdivision maps. 

Concerned about the length and the severity of the downtown in the housing markets, CBIA in 2008 was successful in passing SB 1185 (Lowenthal) which granted a one-year extension, with the potential for an additional year to subdivision maps set to expire.   This handed a much needed lifeline to thousands of maps that had already made it through the lengthy entitlement process but were close to expiring because homebuilders were not able to pull building permits.   

With no immediate end to the economic conditions in sight, CBIA is looking again to protect those maps with legislation to provide a five-year extension, which will not only extend the life of costly entitlements but will ensure a steady and uninterrupted housing recovery.  


CBIA POLICY PROPOSAL:  Impact Fee reform.

Impact fees charged on new housing are out of control.  Some local governments charge more than $150,000 per new house.  And, it’s not just the outrageous amounts of these levies that are so offensive, it’s the purported purpose that’s to be served by their payment.   Ironically, as local governments continue to demand these exorbitant fees, the less likely a housing project can move forward – which means there are no fees at all.

Greater discipline needs to be established for the charging of impact fees and when the economy is in as fragile a state as it is, only the fees that are essential to support the new subdivision should be charged.  Moreover, the broader community is to benefit from the improvements that come from new housing subdivisions, the broader community ought to share in its cost.  In that regard, CBIA intends to work with the League of California Cities to develop a more equitable means of financing these community improvements.

 
CBIA POLICY PROPOSAL:  Relief from the credit crunch.

The refusal of some lenders to provide needed capital to both individual borrowers and homebuilders is becoming a serious constraint to a full housing recovery. Sacramento lawmakers and policy makers need to demand that Congress and the White House direct federal funding aimed at easing the credit crunch to lending institutions like the California Housing Finance Agency to fill critical gaps in financial markets.