Affordable housing law expected to prevent foreclosures

This story originally appeared in The Center Square. A new law taking effect next year will give affordable housing owners more options in avoiding foreclosure. Assembly Bill 2020, authored by Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, D-Encino, will allow the California Department of Housing and Community Development to permit owners to transfer money produced by their affordable housing units to another property to prevent the latter s foreclosure. The law is meant to keep affordable housing units on the market in California and protect taxpayers’ investment in the state’s affordable housing market, according to the bill analysis. “California’s affordable housing developments currently operate on razor-thin margins,” Gabriel told The Center Square via email on Oct. 6. “We cannot afford to lose units that took years and significant public investment to create – especially to a foreclosure that could have been prevented. Preserving what we’ve built is far more cost-effective than starti