California has been grappling with an affordable housing crisis for years. Although the state has passed many laws to reduce barriers to create more housing, for people in need of an affordable place to live, it feels like little progress has been made. California’s Constitution has been a significant barrier to funding affordable housing projects with its two-thirds threshold for passing housing bonds. In Santa Cruz County, the 2018 Measure H affordable housing bond would have provided an estimated 1,000 housing units for local residents, and while it came close, with the two-thirds vote threshold it did not pass.

Affordable Housing NOW believes that Proposition 5 can be a game changer to help address our unprecedented affordable housing crisis. Like Proposition 39 passed decades ago by voters to lower the threshold for school bonds, Proposition 5 would amend California’s Constitution to lower the required threshold to 55% for housing bonds to fund affordable housing construction, down payment assistance programs and public infrastructure projects to support new housing, like roads, transit and water.

Prop. 5 shifts decisions about public policy and spending priorities related to housing away from state government and into the hands of local voters and gives local communities more power to choose how to address the housing needs of low and middle-income families, seniors, veterans and first-time home buyers. The ballot measure gives communities the power to design housing programs tailored to local needs and does not rely on statewide programs designed by the Legislature for the whole state. Local control works better for effective local solutions!

Santa Cruz has the distinction of being one of the most expensive places to live in the country. Middle-class families and public servants like teachers, nurses and firefighters who work in Santa Cruz County are being forced to find affordable housing elsewhere, instead of in the community where they work.

Prop. 5 offers a real solution for the housing needs of our essential workers and will help ensure that people who dedicate their lives to public service can also be a part of the communities they serve.

As an organization that has been actively involved in pro-housing advocacy, Affordable Housing NOW believes that Prop. 5 is a crucial step toward making housing more affordable for our working families and community members who struggle to make ends meet and are at risk of becoming homeless.

The measure is a powerful tool to help local governments take action to address the housing crisis without relying on statewide bonds or federal dollars.

For the Nov. 5 ballot, voters can be part of the solution to make Santa Cruz more affordable for our local workforce and provide families living paycheck to paycheck and struggling to pay rent with a safe, stable, affordable place to live.

Vote Yes on Proposition 5 because everyone deserves a place to call home.

Tim Willoughby and Linda Kerner are members of Affordable Housing NOW for Santa Cruz County.

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