LOS ANGELES (CNS) — Mayor Eric Garcetti joined state elected officials Wednesday to show his support for the Bring California Home Act which seeks to create affordable apartments and rental assistance through money generated by increasing tax rates on some corporations.
According to Assemblywoman Luz Rivas, D-Los Angeles, the bill would create $2.4 billion annually by restoring 1980s-era tax rates for corporations that make $5 million or more in profits. The money would allow the state to create affordable housing and rental assistance for 28,000 people a year who are at risk of being homeless, provide safe shelter for 25,000 people and families, provide permanent housing for 43,000 people, and give additional services to 50,000 people.
"By restoring the corporate tax level to the 1980 level for the largest multinational corporations and closing international tax loopholes, it is a just way and a pro-business way to make sure that we help all of us have a better state," Garcetti said during a joint news conference Wednesday.
He said he believed the money will go to efforts that are proven to work in California.
"We know that these things work, we can take a dollar and leverage it five-fold when it comes to permanent supportive housing, we can take city-owned properties and get shelters up more quickly, and now in a matter of six months, we can have 70 permanent shelters that change lives," Garcetti said.
"But we need to sustain investment and that's what Bring California Home is all about. AB 71 will have this predictable, dedicated, permanent stream of funding of $2.4 billion."
Garcetti added that he hoped the funds would mean Los Angeles has a future where there are not people living on the streets, and people will look back and wonder how past Angelenos lived that way.
Garcetti also said that the bill was "thoughtfully done" to ensure that it will not drive businesses out of California.
Rivas said the bill will address homelessness in California in a way that one-time funding cannot.
"I appreciate the governor's proposed budget on homelessness, but it is clear that one-time funding to combat the homeless crisis that is further compounded every year is not working," Rivas said.
"One time allocations do not allow for our local governments to build and plan programs for multiple years; nor does it allow for coordination between our state departments and agencies with homeless programs to create a coordinated and comprehensive approach for tackling homelessness."
The bill is sponsored by a coalition that includes Garcetti, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg, and the organizations Housing California, Corporation of Supportive Housing, All Home, Brilliant Corners, Episcopal Community Services of San Francisco, Homeless Outreach Program Integrated Care System, John Burton Advocates for Youth, National Alliance to End Homelessness, Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California, Steinberg Institute, and United Way of Greater Los Angeles.