Housing at All Costs: Yes on 145

Most Californians want to own their own home but only one out of five families can afford to buy a house at the median price. Renters also face soaring costs, and nearly one out of three spends more than half of his or her income on rent. Proposition 145, a $315-million bond issue, would provide help for first-time home buyers, vulnerable tenants, poor farm workers and homeless families.

Potential homeowners face two major hurdles--high down payments and high monthly mortgage payments--when trying to buy a first house. To reduce those hurdles, Proposition 145 would fund a state program to provide low-interest second mortgages that would be due only after the first mortgage was paid or at the time of sale.

First-time home buyers would qualify if their incomes did not exceed 35% of the average cost of existing houses in their area. In Los Angeles, a young couple--a cop married to a schoolteacher--could earn as much as $63,000 and qualify to buy a condo or a small house in a modest neighborhood. That ceiling may sound too high to families who paid much less for their first house 20 years ago, but it is realistic given the current realities.

Proposition 145 would also help thousands of elderly tenants. These renters face the threat of soaring rents because they live in apartments that were built with federal subsidies. Those federal subsidies are due to expire, which would allow the low rents to rise to market rates.

The bond measure would preserve that affordable housing by funding $45 million in loans for the purchase or rehabilitation of the apartments in exchange for maintaining the low rents.

An additional $45 million would fund an existing program that makes loans to buy or repair low-rent apartments. The new owners, who are often nonprofit developers, agree to maintain those low rents for up to 30 years.

Proposition 145 would also provide funds for state loan insurance, emergency homeless shelters and housing for farm workers.

Californians have many housing needs. In the absence of adequate federal assistance, state and local governments must fill the void. We urge a yes vote on Proposition 145.