California has been fairly succesful at getting developers to build low-income housing in recent years but a new law aims to do the same for the middle of the market.
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 1287 in mid-October, which allows a developer to build more market-rate units if they include middle-income housing. Based on current area median income, that would be housing set aside for individual San Diegans making $77,200 to $98,100 a year.
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It’s unclear until the law takes effect in January if developers will go for it. There have been a number of well-meaning housing bills in the Golden State in the past decade that sought to spur residential development but fell short or were virtually ignored.
“One thing we’ve done well, not that we solved the problem, is incentivize homebuilding in the low-income sector,” said Assemblyman David Alvarez (D-San Diego). “The missing middle has always been a conundrum.”
Alvarez’s bill comes at a time when California lawmakers are turning new attention to the middle of the market, which is sometimes called “the missing middle.” The thinking is the state has a lot of expensive homes for the wealthy, and has a lot of incentives for housing for the poorest residents, but the middle of the market is left out.
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