POLICY ADVOCACY

The California Coalition for Rural Housing supports the production and preservation of decent, safe, and low-cost housing for rural and low-income Californians. The Coalition advocates for housing at all levels of government before legislative and regulatory bodies. We advocate on behalf of our membership and all rural stakeholders to improve California's rural quality of life.

Our primary focus of advocacy is with the California State Legislature and administrative advocacy at the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD). We also work closely with key staff at USDA Rural Development, HUD, the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee and other governmental agencies to ensure housing policies and programs lift up low-income communities in rural and suburban areas.

Since inception, CCRH has played a central role in nearly every State housing policy and program issue affecting low-income and rural housing.  In recent years, CCRH was a key player in successful efforts to win legislative and voter approval of Propositions 46 and 1C, which provided nearly $5 billion for affordable housing development and related infrastructure. At least 10% of these funds will benefit Rural California.  Since 2009, CCRH has spearheaded statewide efforts to create a permanent source of revenue for housing, remove the freeze on sale of State housing bonds, and save the housing funds generated by redevelopment.  In 2014, we worked in coalition with others to ensure that about $300-500 million dollars of anticipated Cap and Trade auction dollars will be used for affordable housing that reduces greenhouse gas emissions, including housing in rural areas.