“Seems clear to me that to have a meaningful discussion of creating affordable housing, when we get around to scheduling the robust discussion about creating affordable housing, it will important to have our state and federal electeds participating in such a discussion” – City Councilman Andy Weissman following last week’s meeting where rent control, affordable housing and the Landlord Tenant Mediation Board were examined.
[img]1305|right|Andy Weissman||no_popup[/img]Culver City’s three elected legislators should be eyewitnesses to any community debate on affordable housing, says City Councilman Andy Weissman. “They need to be here so they can promulgate legislation that will allow us to restore the financing mechanisms we lost when the Redevelopment Agency went away,” by Gov. Brown’s fiat, almost three years ago.
Not that anyone in City Hall believes fresh financing for low- and moderate-income housing is going to fall from the sky, courtesy of the state Legislature, in the near term.
“I don’t know the answer,” said Mr. Weissman. “They have been talking about this kind of financing in Sacramento for quite awhile. There have been numerous conversations at the state level.
“So far, though, the Legislature and governor have not acted to bring back redevelopment 2.0 that would allow us money that would provide the funding that used to be available when we had a Redevelopment Agency.”
Bringing the community’s three legislators — state Sen. Holly Mitchell (D-Culver City Crenshaw), state Assemblyman Sebastian Ridley-Thomas (D-Culver City/Crenshaw) and U.S. Rep. Karen Bass (D-Culver City/South Los Angeles) – into one setting for a reason other than social, is likely to require uncommon persuasion.
“During the era of Redevelopment Agencies (early 1970s-Feb. 1, 2012),” said Mr. Weissman, “we created low- and moderate-income funds. Monies went into those accounts from the tax increment we received. Twenty cents of every dollar we took in, in tax increment from redevelopment, went into the low- and moderate-income housing funds. This provided the financial resources to incentivize developers to create affordable housing.”
From those monies, Mr. Weissman noted, projects such as Tilden Terrace and 4043 Irving Pl.
“We have used that money to provide money for a rental assistance program, too,” he said. “All of that was lost” when hundreds of Redevelopment Agencies throughout the state were outlawed by Gov. Brown. He said he needed revenue accruing from such agencies more than cities did.
