Put on the Ballot by the Legislature
Authorizes $600 million in general obligation bonds for affordable multifamily supportive housing to relieve homelessness, affordable transitional housing, affordable rental housing, or related facilities for veterans and their families. Fiscal Impact: Increased state bond costs averaging about $50 million annually over 15 years.
WHAT YOUR VOTE MEANS
YES: A YES vote on this measure means: The state would sell $600 million in general obligation bonds to fund affordable multifamily housing for low-income and homeless veterans.
NO: A NO vote on this measure means: The state would not sell $600 million in general obligation bonds to fund affordable multifamily housing for low-income and homeless veterans.
ARGUMENTS:
PRO: Prop. 41, the Veterans Housing and Homeless Prevention Act of 2014, redirects $600 million of previously approved, unspent bond funds to construct and rehabilitate housing for California’s large population of homeless veterans. This Act will construct affordable, supportive, and transitional housing for homeless and near homeless veterans without raising taxes.
CON: Proposition 41 would authorize the State to borrow (by selling bonds) $600 million out of $900 million in bonds previously approved by voters in 2008 for use by the CalVet Home and Farm Loan Program. The issue is whether such a diversion of funds is wise.
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
FOR: Coalition for Veterans Housing
777 S. Figueroa St., Suite 4050
Los Angeles, CA 90017
(213) 346-0400
info@yesonprop41forvets.org
www.yesonprop41forvets.org
AGAINST: Gary Wesley
gary.wesley@yahoo.com
CALIFORNIA FEDERATION OF REPUBLICAN WOMEN POSITION:
After extensive research and analysis, the CFRW has come out against Prop 41. Prop 41 is titled the Veterans Housing and Homeless Prevention Bond Act. Taken at face value, this would seem like a proposition we should support. But upon further review and analysis, Prop 41 does little to fix the homeless veteran problem and actually does more harm to veterans looking to purchase homes.
Prop 41 would take $600 million away from the CalVet program, a $900 million bond program passed by voters in 2008, and instead uses that money to build multifamily, low income housing for homeless vets.
The original CalVet program helped vets secure loans for purchasing property, homes, and farms. This new prop is leaving only $300 million for those vets and instead using $600 million in bond money to support approximately 19,000 homeless vets in the state of California. California has almost 2 million vets living here, yet we are shifting 2/3rds of already approved bond money to help 1% of vets in the state. We believe that the homeless vets should be helped- with a hand up, not a hand out.
Prop 41 would build all new multifamily, low income housing, which is why labor unions are big supporters of the bill. But Prop 41 would also create a new tax liability for Californians, averaging in at least $50 million annually in new costs over the next 15 years.
Prop 41 would also create new bureaucracies for its implementation, many of these overlapping with already established state and federal programs for our homeless vets. This creates more waste and unnecessary spending when this bond money could be better spent to help our vets.
We believe that our vets deserve creative solutions. A robust economy and affordable, competitive college programs would help Californian veterans. How about tax credits for businesses that employ vets? Or reworking the CalVet program for better loan options for vets to purchase property themselves.
Prop 41 is the easy answer, not the right answer. We OPPOSE Prop 41!
