Proposition 1C: Housing and Emergency Shelter Trust Fund Act of 2006. - recommend No
Prop 1C is the third of five propositions placed on the ballot by the legislature. Like the others, 1C is oriented toward state infrastructure -- in this case, housing.
Prop 1C is another bond measure, issuing $2.85 billion in bonds to fund various housing and residential projects. As with every other bond measure, Prop 1C would incur a considerable debt, costing $6.1 billion to pay off. The $2.85 would be split up as follows:
- $1.35 billion to development programs, including urban development (such as parks, sewer, transit and environmental cleanup), development near public transit and parks funding
- $625 million to home ownership programs such as assisting home ownership in low-income households and down payment assistance
- $590 million to provide loans for multifamily housing, housing with associated healthcare and housing for homeless youth
- $285 million to other housing programs including farmworker housing and homeless shelters
Yet again, the arguments for Prop 1C claim that it requires no new taxes. Once again, I have to point out that adopting over $3 billion in debt on top of the actual money that's going into housing and residential projects simply means $3 billion less to spend on housing or city development in the future. I agree with each and every one of the target projects for Prop 1C, but not with the use of a bond measure as a dodge around raising taxes or reapportioning money from other projects.
A convincing argument for this proposition (and others like it) has to be based on a cost-benefit analysis that demonstrates a net cost savings over the next three decades for a bond measure and its associated debt versus just paying the money incrementally as we go along. Otherwise, you're arguing for money to face infrastructure problems now at the expense of being able to deal with those problems later (and those problems will always exist).
Money supporting Prop 1C comes from people with a social welfare interest in city development, as well as from folks with a financial interest, including real estate developers, builders and so on.
You can see who's supporting Prop 1C here.
You can read the full text of the proposition here.
You can read my reviews and recommendations for the other propositions by clicking here.