California's affordable housing funding is uniquely fragmented, with resources managed by two different constitutional officers. This fragmentation leads to significant delays and increased costs in construction. On average, each additional public funding source delays projects by four months and raises costs by over $20,000 per unit. Additionally, California's costs for publicly funded projects are more than 2.5 times higher per square foot than in Texas and Colorado. Concerns remain about whether reorganizing housing agencies will effectively address these issues.
"Many, many states have what is essentially a housing finance agency that controls the majority of affordable housing funds," said Sarah Karlinsky, who directs research at UC Berkeley's Terner Center for Housing Innovation.
A Terner Center analysis this spring estimated that each additional public funding source delays a project by, on average, four months, and adds an additional $20,460 in costs per unit.
Building a publicly funded project in California costs more than 2.5 times more per square foot than in both Texas and Colorado, a recent report from the Rand Institute found.
Cabaldon noted that executive reorganizations are a semi-regular feature of California governance.
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