Last week, GavinNewsom signed a SB 196 into law, creating new opportunities foraffordable housing throughout the state. The new law provides aproperty tax exemption for developers of affordable housing duringthe construction phase—the first three to five years afterpurchasing raw land. The legislation is expected to go a long wayin fueling more affordable housing development.

Organizations like the Irvine Community LandTrust have been advocating for like legislation for years."We have been looking at legislation to support community landtrusts for many years," Mark Asturias, executivedirector of the ICLT, tells GlobeSt.com. "Our land trust waslooking at the welfare exemption specifically because of the highproperty tax carry cost here in Orange County. Many peopleunderstand that the cost of land and housing is very expensive inOrange County, and in our world, we can't carry the cost ofmarket-rate land. Because most of our land is developed through apublic partnership, we hoped to get this in place to use money topay for the construction of new projects."

Asturias anticipates that the legislation will be successful ingenerating more affordable housing, which the state of Californiadesperately needs. "This is a wonderful opportunity for us. We arenow going to be able to develop properties without paying taxes onthe property at market rate while we are trying to get ourentitlements in place," Asturias. "In California, it takes three tofive years to get through the process from the day you buy theproperty to the day you can actually finish the construction of thehouse."