As the summer recess begins to wind down, attention is turning back to the Capitol as the Legislature reconvenes for the final month of the 2025/26 legislative year on August 3. With August 30 marking the deadline for bills to clear the Legislature and reach the Governor’s desk, lawmakers, advocates, and stakeholders are entering the final stretch of what has been another consequential year for housing policy in California.

For CCAH, this is also a time to look ahead. While we remain focused on advancing our priorities through the remainder of this session, we are already beginning to develop our 2027 legislative agenda. As we evaluate opportunities to increase affordable housing production, expand access to financing, and modernize housing policy, we welcome your ideas and input. Some of our most impactful policy initiatives have originated from conversations with members, affordable housing practitioners, local partners, and industry leaders who are working through challenges on the ground every day. If you have identified barriers that are slowing affordable housing development or have innovative ideas that could improve financing tools and delivery systems, I encourage you to reach out to me (pshafer@californiacouncil.org). Together, we can continue advancing practical, effective solutions that move the needle on California’s housing crisis.

Although the Legislature has been in recess, it has been anything but quiet for CCAH.

Last week, I joined several housing advocacy organizations and nonprofit affordable housing developers at the California Board of Equalization’s July Board Meeting for an informational hearing focused on the welfare exemption for property taxes. The welfare exemption is a critical tool for affordable housing providers, helping preserve scarce resources that can instead be directed toward housing development, resident services, and long-term project sustainability. However, inconsistent administration of the program across counties has created compliance challenges, unnecessary administrative burdens, and additional costs for affordable housing developers.

Working collaboratively with our partners, we presented four recommendations to the Board of Equalization aimed at improving consistency, increasing efficiency, and reducing administrative costs throughout the welfare exemption process.

First, we urged the BOE to issue guidance to county assessors regarding implementation of AB 2353 (Ward, 2024) and to provide a formal confirmation or certification process that affordable housing developers could present to county tax collectors and lenders. This would help clearly demonstrate eligibility for the penalty and interest protections established under the legislation and reduce confusion among local jurisdictions.

Second, we recommended establishing clear statewide standards for what constitutes a complete welfare exemption application. At the same time, we emphasized that existing compliance and monitoring frameworks administered by agencies such as the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee (TCAC), the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority (BAHFA), and local regulatory agreements should be recognized in lieu of requiring duplicative documentation.

Third, we encouraged the BOE to establish a minimum baseline for administrative procedures in counties where practices currently vary significantly. Clear guidance on the minimum documentation counties should be required to accept would help create greater consistency and predictability for affordable housing providers operating across multiple jurisdictions.

Finally, we recommended that the BOE collaborate directly with affordable housing organizations to conduct targeted outreach and problem-solving efforts with counties where recurring issues have been identified. By leveraging members’ experiences and real-world case studies, the Board can better understand implementation challenges and craft practical solutions that improve outcomes for both local governments and affordable housing developers.

The response from Board members was highly encouraging. The BOE expressed significant interest in the recommendations presented during the hearing and indicated a strong willingness to explore these ideas as part of broader efforts to improve the functionality, efficiency, and consistency of the welfare exemption process statewide. While meaningful reforms will take time, the discussion represented an important step toward creating a more streamlined system that better supports affordable housing production and preservation across California. A recording of July’s BOE meeting can be found here.

As the legislative session enters its final weeks, CCAH will continue advocating for policies that expand housing opportunities and remove unnecessary barriers to development. We look forward to keeping our members informed as legislation moves through its final stages and as work begins in earnest on shaping our priorities for the 2027 legislative year.