Los Angeles City Councilman Gil Cedillo and other city officials will travel to Sacramento today to lobby state lawmakers and Gov. Jerry Brown’s office for $1.3 billion in state funding to be spent on creating affordable housing for the homeless and low-income people.
Democratic Assembly members proposed the funds last month and are expected to begin negotiations with the Senate and Brown soon. The funds would go toward a variety of programs serving the homeless, renters, low-income people and families, and rural residents. The funds could also be used to allow more people to own homes and to assist with earthquake retrofitting costs.
Cedillo said the funds are needed because housing costs have “soared” by 20 percent in recent years while incomes have dropped 8 percent. The funds could be used to ensure that Los Angeles would be affordable for families and residents with a wider mix of incomes, he said.
The Los Angeles delegation is planning to push for flexibility in how the funds could be used, according to Cedillo.
“We want to make sure we have the broadest flexibility, that we have the ability to spend money as soon as we get it, as soon as we’re able to,” he told his colleagues on the City Council, which approved a resolution officially backing the $1.3 billion funding proposal.
Cedillo also said that with the Los Angeles area representing about 40 percent of the state’s population, it should get a proportional amount of the funding.
City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana will be among the city officials joining Cedillo in Sacramento today in meetings planned with Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Paramount, Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon, D- Los Angeles, and the governor’s office.
