This division shall be known and may be cited as the Zenovich-Moscone-Chacon Housing and Home Finance Act.

The Legislature finds and declares that the subject of housing is of vital statewide importance to the health, safety, and welfare of the residents of this state, for the following reasons:

The Congress of the United States has established, as a national goal, the provision of a decent home and a suitable living environment for every American family and the Legislature finds and declares that the attainment of this goal is a priority of the highest order. The national housing goal, as it applies to California, is deserving of adoption by the Legislature, with the accompanying commitment to guide, encourage, and direct where possible, the efforts of the private and public sectors of the economy to cooperate and participate in the early attainment of a decent home and a satisfying environment for every Californian.

The Legislature finds and declares that there exists within the urban and rural areas of the state a significant number of persons without decent, safe, and sanitary housing. This shortage is inimical to the health, safety, and welfare of the residents of this state and the sound growth of its communities. Without the assistance contemplated in this division, it is not financially feasible for private enterprise and private investors to provide decent, safe, and sanitary emergency housing for persons who are homeless.

The Legislature also finds and declares that in order to remedy the emergency shelter shortages, it is necessary to implement a public program incorporating all of the following elements and goals:

The Legislature finds and declares that the shortage of adequate student housing is detrimental to those communities in which college and university campuses are located, causing in particular substantial upward pressure on rents, housing shortages, conversion of family housing to student use, deterioration of housing stock, and generally unfavorable housing conditions under which students must pursue their education.

It is the intent of the Legislature, in enacting this section, to encourage the growth and formation of student-run and owned nonprofit housing cooperatives. Such student cooperatives shall be eligible for the applicable policies and programs provided pursuant to this division.

The Legislature finds and declares that it is to the economic benefit of the state and a public purpose to encourage the availability of adequate housing and home finance for persons and families of low or moderate income, and to develop viable urban and rural communities by providing decent housing, enhanced living environment, and increased economic opportunities for persons and families of low or moderate income.

The Legislature finds and declares that full cooperation and coordination with the cities and counties of the state in meeting the housing needs of the state on a level of government which is as close as possible to the people it serves is essential if workable housing programs are to be developed and implemented.

The provision to local governments of financial resources, statistical data, and technical assistance is necessary to implementation of public programs to meet housing needs with adequate consideration of the relationship between housing and the community in which the housing is located.

The Legislature finds and declares that a number of federal housing programs have failed to reach the fundamental goals and purposes for which they were established, especially in urban areas. In California, this failure has often been related to inadequate consideration of the relationship between housing and the community in which the housing is located.

It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this division to seek to avoid such failures by providing a comprehensive and balanced approach to the solution of housing problems of very low income households and persons and families of low or moderate income in the state. It is further the intent of the Legislature to provide a program which gives consideration, not only to the production and financing of housing, but also to the social and aesthetic impact of such housing. A California housing program must consider the distribution throughout the state of such housing as may be assisted pursuant to this division, the avoidance of imposed economic, ethnic, and racial isolation or concentration, an emphasis on superior design, including the scale and location of such housing, the preparation of communities and persons to avail themselves of the program, and other factors which contribute to a decent living environment. Such program shall be designed to overcome racial isolation and concentration through revitalization of deteriorating and deteriorated urban areas by attracting a full range of income groups to central-city areas to provide economic integration with persons and families of low or moderate income in such areas.

The Legislature finds and declares that the large equities that the majority of California residents in most economic strata have now accumulated in single-family homes must be protected and conserved.

The Legislature finds and declares that manufactured housing, by virtue of its production costs and sales prices can provide a source of decent, safe, and affordable shelter for persons and families of low and moderate income. The Legislature finds and declares that the availability of manufactured housing has been limited by inadequate sites for such manufactured housing and by the costs of financing the purchase of such housing. The Legislature finds and declares that, if California is to effectively meet the housing needs of persons and families of low and moderate income, it must encourage increased manufactured housing production, new manufactured housing developments, and the purchase of new manufactured housing by persons and families of low and moderate income. Therefore, it is the intent of the Legislature that the Department of Housing and Community Development and the California Housing Finance Agency, in implementing the programs established by this division, as amended by the Manufactured Housing Assistance Act of 1980, shall encourage increased availability and affordability of manufactured housing for persons and families of low and moderate income.

The Legislature finds and declares that a significantly growing percentage of newly formed households are unable to achieve homeownership under existing conditions, and that preservation and enhancement of opportunities for homeownership are beneficial to the well-being and prosperity of the people of the state and contribute materially to social and economic balance and to the stability of California’s communities and of the state as a whole.

The Legislature also finds and declares that the problem of housing affordability facing the first-time home buyer presents serious implications for housing market activity and for economic growth in California since the first-time home buyer is critical to a healthy market for all Californians, as all Californians are materially inhibited in seeking needed adjustments to their housing needs if potential first-time home buyers cannot enter the market; and that the ability of California to generate activity to produce new jobs is limited by the lack of affordable housing with affordable financing for the persons who would fill such jobs.

It is, therefore, necessary to implement a program incorporating the elements of this division, added by the chapter of the Statutes of 1982 which enacted this section, and the provisions enacted by that chapter shall be liberally construed to effect their purposes.

The Legislature finds and declares that the utilization of tax-exempt mortgage revenue bonds can, and should, encourage the production of housing units affordable to low- and moderate-income persons and families. The Legislature further finds and declares that as a result of recent bond interest rates at historically high levels, tax-exempt mortgage revenue bond programs may not be able to provide housing affordable to low- and moderate-income persons and families, without an additional subsidy. The Legislature further finds and declares that the effectiveness of tax-exempt mortgage revenue bonds in reducing the housing costs of low- and moderate-income persons and families should be carefully monitored by the Legislature to permit an assessment of the costs and benefits of this financing mechanism.