Our Vision

A Letter from the Board President,
James Santa Maria

Dear Friends and Colleagues of CAHDA,

I cannot remember a time when the pressures on low income and homeless people were in greater contrast with the nation’s prosperity, and this is just the beginning. California’s housing crisis has spiraled into a state of disarray and there is no end in sight. As of 2019, California had the 49th lowest ratio of housing units per resident, with the shortage estimated at 3 to 4 million housing units. Experts say that California needs to double its current rate of housing production just to keep up with expected population growth and prevent prices from further increasing, and needs to quadruple the current rate of housing production over the next 6 years in order for prices and rents to decline.

CAHDA is innovating to meet these challenges by spurring developers to create more affordable housing than ever before. We are currently working with over 30 affordable housing developers and advocates to ensure that California’s citizen are receiving adequate access to housing. By connecting developers and their counterparts through our extensive network, we hope to incite ingenuity and innovation amongst our members that can effectively alleviate the effects housing crisis that has greatly impacted the most underserved and underrepresented members of society.

We are also working to ease the processes of developing affordable housing in California by engaging in a constructive dialogue with affordable housing developers and promoting legislative change on a local and statewide level. Elected officials are oftentimes removed from the impacts that legislation can have on their constituents; that is why CAHDA seeks to make the voices of those directly affected by these laws, including low income individuals, affordable housing developers, and advocates, heard by the legislators that construct their realities.

In particular, we strive to provide representation for for-profit affordable housing developers in government. For-profit affordable housing developers can produce extraordinary units cheaply and quickly, which permits our developers to make their units available to the public often at a lower cost and a faster rate than non-profit developers. These developers have issues that need to be resolved on a legislative level. CAHDA works to ensure that the concerns of for-profit developers are considered and resolved by legislators so that they can advance their projects, as it is through their projects that California can build sustainable, affordable communities.

Additionally, the world is becomes more digitalized, and the outdated housing sector should follow suit. At CAHDA, our goal is to blaze the trail by opting for technological solutions to increase accessibility to affordable housing. Thus, we are working to implement an expedited system by which to post units online so that, ultimately, those in need of affordable housing have viable options made available to them in a timely manner.

Affordable housing is not the end-all be-all solution to California’s struggle with poverty. However, it is an excellent place to start.

We are currently working on our new strategic plan, which will detail how we plan on proceeding through the next few years. Many of you have already contributed to our efforts with your thoughtfulness, your partnership, and your contributions. We are truly excited to share this plan with you, and hope that you’ll continue to join with us in building sustainable, affordable communities for all.

Humbly yours,

James Santa Maria
President, Board of Directors