Press Democrat: Close to Home: Investment in affordable housing will create safer communities

Providing affordable homes for Californians has many benefits. It generates jobs, supports business expansion, reduces crime, improves air quality and improves public health. Sounds like a no-brainer. But the state needs to do more to help local governments tackle the state’s devastating housing crisis. California has seen a 69 percent overall decline in state and federal investment in production and preservation of affordable housing since the Great Recession in 2008. Yet Gov. Jerry Brown’s 2017-18 budget plan makes no new investment in affordable home construction. We urgently need action from the state.