California Provides $865M for Affordable Housing, Green Infrastructure

Dozens of California affordable housing and transit projects will receive a funding boost, as the state reinvests payments collected from some of its largest greenhouse gas emitters. 

Thirty-nine affordable housing projects, which together feature thousands of new units, and sustainable public transportation upgrades, will see more than $865 million in dividend funding from the state’s Cap-and-Invest program, which requires greenhouse gas polluters to purchase allowances for the gases they emit. The state is targeting communities hit hardest by climate impacts, such as agricultural areas in the California’s Central Valley. 

That also includes wildfire recovery. Projects across Los Angeles County in particular will receive $185.6 million as the region rebuilds housing and infrastructure from the L.A. Fires that ravaged the Pacific Palisades, Malibu and Altadena 11 months ago. That includes developments like EAH Housing’s 1318 Fourth Street in Santa Monica, a mixed-use multifamily project that is planned to feature 122 affordable units.

“California’s Cap-and-Invest program is doing exactly what it was designed to do: cut pollution and reinvest back into our communities,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement. “We’re seeing the results: thousands of families getting access to new homes and neighborhoods statewide, benefiting from payments made by polluters. We’re seeing the dividends through real results.”

The California Strategic Growth Council, which oversees programs funded by the state’s Cap-and-Invest policy, has now surpassed more than $5 billion in sustainable investments to date with this new tranche of funding, according to the governor’s office. 

Nearly 2,400 rent-restricted units will be developed in those 39 projects, with roughly two-thirds of those units earmarked for extremely or very low-income households. Alongside the units, those projects together will create more than 30 new zero-emission public transit vehicles, roughly 150 bus shelters, 45 miles of bike lanes and 20 miles of accessible walkways. The impact of that sustainable infrastructure is the equivalent of removing more than 200,000 gas-powered cars from the road annually, per the governor’s office. 

“These community-driven solutions prove that California leads on climate and leaves no one behind,” Yana Garcia, California secretary for environmental protection and a member of the Strategic Growth Council, said in a statement. “This billion-dollar investment delivers cleaner air, healthier people, and good jobs across California, furthering our deep commitment to building healthy and sustainable communities for everyone.”

This round of affordable and sustainable project funding comes 15 months after the state announced about $800 million in similar funding for 24 housing projects and other sustainable infrastructure. That funding was intended to help create nearly 2,500 rent-restricted units, though it wasn’t immediately clear if certain projects benefited from both funding rounds. 

Nick Trombola can be reached at ntrombola@commercialobserver.com.