Dear friends,

One of the many causes of high housing costs are the various impact fees that cities tack on to the cost of new housing -- fees that builders usually pay with high-interest rate construction loans.

Development fees can reach as high as $150,000 per home -- and when financed at rates as high as 14 percent (or even higher), those fees end up driving up housing costs, and sometimes kill housing altogether.

The "carrying cost" of impact fees can make it too expensive to build the housing we need – even when that housing is legal to build. And our current economic environment of high interest rates and high building materials costs means high fees can often be the difference between homes getting built, or dying on the drawing board.

SB 937 is designed to make it less expensive for builders to pay these fees by delaying when fees are collected by local jurisdictions until the building is complete, rather than at the building permitting stage. The bill could save tens of thousands of dollars per home –- just on financing costs.

SB 937 bill will be up for an Assembly floor vote soon, and we need you to help show that Californians support this bill.

Sign our petition in support of SB 937 and help lower construction costs to tackle our affordability crisis!
ADD YOUR NAME >>

Forcing builders to cover the cost of local fees at the permitting stage, rather than when the building is complete, can be catastrophic – especially when coupled with increasing construction costs.

But we can help home builders overcome these high costs with good public policy. SB 937, by Senator Scott Wiener, requires jurisdictions to delay collecting their fees until new homes have a "certificate of occupancy." Delaying payment allows fees to be paid from rents or mortgages -- which have much lower interest rates than construction loans, and thereby reduce financing costs for homebuilding.

SB 937 passed the State Senate and has also passed other policy committee votes in the State Assembly. But we’ve seen great bills get stuck on that last vote. SB 937 will likely be up on the Assembly floor soon after it clears the Appropriations Committee. We need your help to continue the momentum!

Add your name in support of SB 937 – and help get more housing built to tackle our affordability crisis!

Thank you for taking action for housing abundance.

Gratefully,

Matthew

Matthew Lewis
Communications Director
California YIMBY

California YIMBY is a movement dedicated to ending our state’s housing crisis and building a more inclusive, affordable, and accessible state for ALL Californians. If you were forwarded this email, you can join our movement here. DONATE NOW » Want to keep track of housing issues and the YIMBY movement? Sign up for the HomeWork, our newsletter here.

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