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Application for Concord Measure V Commercial Rent Relief Program Now Available

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Woman in mask putting red sign with words Closed Due To Covid-19 hanging onto glass door, closeup

Measure V enables small businesses in Concord to access $10,000 grants for commercial rent relief. Submit online applications from April 26 – May 14th.

The City of Concord is supporting local businesses experiencing continued financial impacts due to COVID-19 with the Measure V Commercial Rent Relief Program. Eligible small businesses can receive a one-time grant of $10,000 paid directly to landlords to cover past-due rent. Commercial landlords are encouraged to learn more and share information with their tenants.

The online application process will open Mon, April 26th at 8:00 am and close Fri, May 14th at 5 pm.
The Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce is administering the program on behalf of the City.
For application assistance contact: [email protected].
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Help Promote SB 304 – Handyperson Bill

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Builder handyman
SHARE YOUR STORY

Share a story. Move a bill. 

Do you engage an unlicensed “handyperson” to complete small projects? C.A.R. wants to hear from you! Send your stories about using a handyperson on any small projects–include project details, cost, etc. We want the legislature to understand that $500 is not sufficient to cover the costs of unlicensed handypeople!

If passed, the C.A.R.-sponsored SB 304 Bill will increase the handyperson aggregate contract threshold price from the current $500 (for labor and materials) to $1,000. The $500 amount has not been adjusted in more than 20 years and does not adequately reflect increases in labor and materials costs. 

SB 304 simply raises the current outdated/inadequate cost limit for work completed by unlicensed “handypeople”.

CCAR 2020 Annual Report Now Available

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While some may be happy to put the year behind them, CCAR leaders, volunteers and members accomplished many things in 2020. CCAR’s year-end financial report, along with Association updates can be viewed here.

C.A.R. Unveils Fair Housing & Equity Legislative Package

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Need Housing Now Initiative Urges Legislature to Address Housing Affordability and Availability

Earlier this month C.A.R. unveiled its Fair Housing and Equity legislative package designed to help address ongoing fair housing and equity issues that persist, especially for communities of color. The package is part of C.A.R.’s statewide Californians Need Housing Now initiative, which urges the Legislature to enact policies that address the issue of affordability and availability plaguing many communities across California with increased housing supply and fair housing reforms. These bills address the historic inequities facing Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) that have made it more difficult for these communities to access and afford housing in California.

Legislation that C.A.R. is supporting includes requiring implicit bias training for realtors, removing discriminatory language in property records, prohibiting discrimination against people living in affordable housing and repealing Article 34 of the California Constitution. Details of those pieces of legislation are as follows:

Prohibiting Discrimination Against Residents Living in Affordable Housing

Assembly Bill 491 (Gonzalez)-First Hearing Pending: This bill will ensure that multifamily properties provide the occupants of affordable units the same access to common entrances, common areas, and amenities that are available to the occupants of market-rate units and do not isolate affordable units to a specific floor or area.

Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act (UPHPA)

Assembly Bill 633 (Calderon)- This bill adds California to the list of states that utilize the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act (UPHPA). Under current law, if several heirs jointly inherit a property and there is no will, trust or other method of conveying the property at the time of the owner’s death, one heir can go to court to force the sale of the entire property, often at below-market rates. Furthermore, heirs who may be in an immediate need of money have been taken advantage of by predatory persons who buy small shares and then force these below-market sales at which they purchase the property. These forced partition sales have had an outsized negative impact on those in financially disadvantaged groups, more of whom tend not to have wills or trusts. This measure seeks to preserve family wealth by providing a series of simple due process protections to ensure all parties receive their fair share of the inherited proceeds and ensure the best value for the inherited property is obtained. AB 633 passed its first committee hearing, Assembly Judiciary.

Implicit Bias Training for Real Estate Professionals

Senate Bill 263 (Rubio) – This bill now requires a licensee’s continuing education requirement to include a two-hour course on implicit bias training for real estate licensees, including actionable steps licensees can take to prevent implicit bias. It also requires the current fair housing training to include participation in interactive training where roleplay scenarios are used to illustrate live-experiences from the perspective of both a consumer and a licensee. AB 263 passed its committee hearing in Sen. Business, Professions, and Economic Development.

Repealing Article 34

Senate Constitutional Amendment 2 (Wiener, Allen)- Enacted by voters in 1950, Article 34 of the California Constitution requires that any development comprised of “low-rent” dwellings, financed in whole or in part by federal, state, or local government, be approved by a vote of the people in the jurisdiction where the project is located. Article 34 does not just apply to “public housing” but also affects mixed-income developments that often contain units partially “subsidized” by local government. Since 1992, C.A.R. has had policy supporting affordable workforce housing and has sought to advance policies seeking to increase the state’s housing supply. C.A.R. is a co-sponsor of S.C.A. 2, which seeks to repeal Article 34 in its entirety. This bill is pending referral to a policy committee.

If you have any questions about the above legislation, please contact C.A.R. at [email protected].

New C.A.R. Legislation Addresses Housing Barriers

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Less than half of Black households earn the minimum income needed to purchase a home as compared to whites, illustrating the homeownership gap and wealth disparity for people of color, women, people with disabilities, indigenous people and members of the LGBTQ community, according to a recent C.A.R. report.

The Californians Need Housing Now initiative urges the Legislature to enact policies that address California’s worsening housing affordability crisis with increased housing supply and fair housing reforms. Specifically, the bills address the historic and ongoing inequities facing Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) that have made it harder for these communities to access and afford housing in California

Fair Housing and Equity legislative solutions include requiring California real estate professionals to take implicit bias training, removing discriminatory language in property records, prohibiting discrimination against people living in affordable housing, repealing Article 34 of the California Constitution and eliminating forced partition sales.

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