Bay Area will decide California’s biggest housing bond ever

The largest affordable housing bond in California history is headed to the November ballot, but only for Bay Area residents. Commissioners of the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority agreed on Wednesday to ask voters across the nine counties to approve an IOU of up to $20 billion dollars. The bulk of the funds would go toward the construction of new subsidized housing projects. Affordable housing developers supported the move, noting that thousands of housing units reserved for working class Bay Areans are ready to break ground but lack public funding. The historically huge bond is being sent to the ballot at a time when the future of a long-sought statewide housing bond looks uncertain.