Housing programs: financing.

Existing law establishes the Department of Housing and Community Development and requires it to administer various programs intended to promote the development of housing and to provide housing assistance and home loans. Existing law sets forth various general powers of the department in implementing these programs, including authorizing the department to enter into long-term contracts or agreements of up to 30 years for the purpose of servicing loans or grants or enforcing regulatory agreements or other security documents. Existing law authorizes the Department of Housing and Community Development to approve an extension of a department loan, the reinstatement of a qualifying unpaid matured loan, the subordination of a department loan to new debt, or an investment of tax credit equity pursuant to specified rental housing finance programs, as specified, unless it would result in a rent increase for tenants of a development. Existing law authorizes the department to charge a monitoring fee to cover the aggregate monitoring costs in years the loan is extended and a transaction fee to cover its costs for processing restructuring transactions, and requires developer fee limitations to be consistent with specified laws and regulations, including regulations by the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee. This bill would revise and recast these provisions, including additionally authorizing the department to approve the payoff of a department loan in whole or part prior to the end of its term and the extraction of equity from a development for purposes approved by the department. The bill would prohibit the extension, reinstatement, subordination, payoff, extraction, or investment, as described above, if it would result in a rent increase for tenants of a development over and above the annual adjustment to the tenants' rents under the department's regulatory agreement. The bill would authorize the department to waive specified requirements in the regulatory agreement if the loan is paid off, including requiring occupancy and financial reports and governing the use of operating income and reserves for the development. The bill would authorize the department to charge additional fees as necessary to cover its costs for processing restructuring transactions, and would provide that the monitoring fees continue until the end of the term of the department's regulatory agreement, as specified. The bill would limit developer fees to the amount allowed by the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee or to 25% of actual rehabilitation costs, as applicable.