Affordable housing

California voters will weight a $6.4 billion bond measure in March that redirects money from an existing millionaire's tax supporting mental health programs.

In her State of the County address, Mayor Daniella Levine Cava unveiled plans to invest in housing, septic to sewer conversions, flood prevention, parks and other infrastructure.

Affordable housing expert Marian Zucker retired on Dec. 1 as head of S&P Global Rating's housing group after over 40 years of working in the public and private sectors of the municipal bond industry.

Cities and states in the Southwest are making affordable housing a funding priority through voter-approved general obligation bonds or in their budgets.

Research indicates office space conversions could be financed with bonds.

Bond Buyer Senior Reporter Keeley Webster shares an interview with California Treasurer Fiona Ma on her run for lieutenant governor as a prelude to a fireside chat Wells Fargo Director Julia Kim conducted with the state treasurer at The Bond Buyer's California Public Finance conference.

Mohamed Balla, Atlanta's CFO, talks about housing bonds and his participation in the recent National Association of Security Professionals' annual conference. Thomas Nocera hosts. (22 minutes)

Charles Treece and Azer Akhtar in Washington, D.C., and Jennifer Santangelo in Philadelphia have become partners at Ballard Spahr.

"Our ratings reflect the progress the city has made over time on important issues like rebuilding reserves and improving the health of our pension fund," said Philadelphia Treasurer Jackie Dunn.

Providing enough housing for middle class and homeless people has topped legislative agendas in three West Coast states and Hawaii this session.

The proposed budget would add 400 more police officers and spend $1.3 billion on programs to ease homelessness.

Gov. Jay Inslee's plan to put a $4 billion housing bond before voters was discarded by budget writers in the state Senate.

President Biden's proposed budget contains a change that many affordable housing advocates say would help make PAB financing go further.

Huntington Beach leaders say they are countersuing because the state is trying to micromanage the city's planning and zoning process to gain more housing.

San Francisco is one of a handful of Bay Area cities to meet a state deadline to deliver a blueprint to manage the housing crisis by permitting many new homes.

A family earning Miami's median city income would need to spend 85% of their paycheck to buy Miami's median-priced home, said the firm RealtyHop.

Daniella Levine Cava, Mayor of Miami-Dade County, Florida, talks with Chip Barnett about the county's robust economy as it recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic. She talks about how the seaport and airport are booming and looks at some challenges ahead such as environmental and housing issues. Taped live in Miami on Dec. 7. (10 minutes)

In the letter addressed to House congressional leaders, members urged leadership to expand the affordable housing credit and lower the PAB requirement.

Putting a county government into the real estate development business goes beyond making the numbers work.

Larry Kosmont, chairman and CEO of Kosmont Companies, discussed the interplay between state and local governments as electeds work to solve the state's housing crisis with Keeley Webster, a senior reporter for The Bond Buyer. (18 minutes)