Are you or your organization interested in protecting vulnerable tenants from being kicked out of their homes? If so, you can join California’s Qualified Entity list and be given the first opportunity to purchase and maintain an affordable housing development!

WHAT ARE AFFORDABLE HOUSING PRESERVATION LAWS?

California’s Affordable Housing Preservation Laws (AHPLs) aim to protect the long-term affordability of affordable housing developments when the legal restrictions that keep them affordable expire. Without AHPLs, rents can be raised to market-rate prices upon expiration of these legal restrictions, in turn forcing low-income tenants out of their homes.

To combat this, the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) oversees a process where certain individuals or organizations, called Qualified Entities (QEs), are notified and given the first opportunity to purchase an expiring affordable housing development to ensure that the long-term affordability of the housing is maintained.

If landlords ignore this process and try to raise the rent to market-rate anyway, tenants may be able to stop those rent increases under AHPL!

HOW DOES THE PROCESS WORK?

At least 12 months before a property’s affordable housing restrictions expire, the owner must send a Notice of Opportunity to Submit an Offer to Purchase to interested QEs, starting a 270-day period for QEs to submit an offer to purchase the affordable housing development. If you make an offer, the owner must either accept your offer or agree to preserve affordability for another 30 years.

HOW DO I BECOME A QUALIFIED ENTITY?

This is something your organization can do today! If you are a tenant association of an affected development; a local, regional, or national nonprofit organization or public agency; or a for-profit or cooperative housing organization or individual with relevant experience in California, you can submit a (super simple) Qualified Entity Certification Form to the Affordable Housing Preservation Portal certifying that you have capacity to operate the housing development and maintain the affordability of any purchased housing for at least 30 years from the date of purchase. And you are not committing to purchasing or managing any particular property or price at this stage; you are simply giving your organization the option for the future.

If you or your organization is interested in becoming a Qualified Entity, please take the appropriate steps to join the list, or contact us at info@impactmatters.com. See the AHPL Guide for more resources, including tenant’s and property owner’s rights.