A combined $16.2 million awarded to California will be used to develop new affordable housing for lower-income households and reduce regulatory barriers to housing construction and preservation, Sen. Alex Padilla announced on Wednesday.
California has four of the 21 communities that will receive the competitive Pathways to Removing Obstacles to Housing (PRO Housing) grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). PRO Housing provides grant funding to help communities address local housing barriers such as outdated regulations and land use policies, inadequate infrastructure, lack of available financing for development, etc.
The funding under PRO Housing comes from the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023, which provided $85 million to establish the grant competition.
The $16.2 million will be awarded to four California affordable housing initiatives: Los Angeles County ($6.7 million), Metropolitan Transportation Commission of the Bay Area ($5 million), Anaheim ($3.5 million), and Arcata ($1 million).
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LA County specifically will use the grant to “support housing in unincorporated areas," “building and modernizing sewer and transportation infrastructure,” and "facilitating construction in areas with major public transit infrastructure," according to Padilla’s public statement.
The County will also conduct an “equity audit” to change land use patterns that are rooted in systemically racist policies.
Last year, a report by UCLA and Leadership Counsel pointed out the structural racism embedded in California’s land use policies, analyzing how “jurisdictions continue to disproportionately place polluting land uses in and around disadvantaged communities.”
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A primary goal of the grant is to “examine historical housing inequities” like these and “expand access to home loans in communities,” Padilla announced.
More details of the grant use have not yet been provided, while it is known that the grant is one step toward a bigger direction. Later this year, HUD will make $100 million in additional funding available for a second-round funding competition.
