Regional Measure 4 (RM4): Regional Affordable housing bond
We have an opportunity to change the landscape for affordable housing throughout our region. The Bay Area Housing Finance Authority (BAHFA) has placed RM4, a regional affordable housing bond measure, on the November 5, 2024 ballot. If approved by the voters, RM4 will provide an estimated $20 billion for the production and preservation of affordable housing across the nine-county Bay Area. At least $4.5 billion would be dedicated to Santa Clara County and cities within Santa Clara County — this is by far the largest allocation of funds for any of the nine counties in the Bay Area.
RM4 will be a huge positive step for the region, county, and communities. Please join us and help pass this measure to make housing more affordable!
The Need for Affordable Housing Funding
The high price of housing in Silicon Valley affects everybody who lives and works here. It is especially hard for young families, seniors, and anybody who works hard to make ends meet. People whose families have lived in Santa Clara County for generations are being displaced. People are becoming homeless.
The truth is, we have not built enough affordable housing in Santa Clara County. Recent estimates show that we have a shortage of approximately 60,000 affordable homes in our county. While we have made some progress reducing land use barriers for affordable housing, our communities still do not have sufficient funding in order to produce and preserve all the housing that we need.
RM4 Frequently Asked Questions
RM4 is a game-changing opportunity to invest in affordable housing. RM4 is a general obligation bond for affordable housing, placed on the Nov. 5, 2024, ballot in all nine Bay Area Counties by The Bay Area Housing Finance Authority (BAHFA). RM4 will provide at least $4.5 billion for affordable housing in Santa Clara County ($2.4B for Santa Clara County and $2.1B for San Jose) and $20 billion across our region. Please join us! Endorse & Join at https://bit.ly/RM4_SCC_Endorse_Join
The Bay Area suffers from a severe housing shortage because we have not produced enough affordable housing for decades. As a result, nearly half (45%) of renters are rent-burdened, 38,000 people are experiencing homelessness, and many more are at risk of losing their homes.
Santa Clara County already has 88 new housing developments — 10,829 affordable homes — stuck in predevelopment, and they need more funding to start construction. To further address the profound needs in our communities, many cities in the county have committed to integrating up to 20,000 new affordable homes into their major land use plans, but those future developments will require additional resources. Generating and allocating new regional resources is crucial to build the housing we need. A general obligation bond like RM4 is one of the most powerful financing sources available for permanent affordable housing.
RM4 will build on the success of local bond measures like Santa Clara County’s Measure A, with the added strength of a regional approach to tackling our regional housing shortage. General obligation bonds are funded through property taxes, which vary depending on the size of the bond. RM4 will only cost property owners approximately $19 per $100,000 in assessed value — in other words, under $200 per year for a home assessed at a million dollars. This is less than a typical school bond.
At least 80% of funds raised through RM4 will return to local jurisdictions (in Santa Clara County, $2.4B to the County itself and $2.1B to San Jose). The remaining 20% will be administered by BAHFA in accordance with the framework established by AB 1487 and BAHFA’s expenditure plan to fund critical affordable housing and services, ensuring equitable distribution across all nine Bay Area counties. This innovative model also allows BAHFA to generate more income to reinvest in housing needs.
The County of Santa Clara and the City of San Jose will each create expenditure plans with significant stakeholder engagement. These plans must be approved by BAHFA and must include funding minimums, including 52% for housing production, 15% for affordable housing preservation, and 28% flexible to meet local housing needs. Expenditure plans must help meet RHNA goals and prioritize homes affordable to extremely low-income, low-income, and low-income households.
In 2019, the Legislature passed AB 1487 to establish the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority (BAHFA) to increase resources and collaboration across the region to meet the Bay Area’s affordable housing needs. BAHFA can empower our region with critical new funds, tools, and technical assistance to support affordable housing production and preservation.
Prop. 5, a statewide measure, will reduce the voter threshold to pass local affordable housing bonds and infrastructure bonds from 66.6% to 55% (the threshold for school bonds). This will make it far easier to pass RM4 and similar measures across California. If Prop. 5 and RM4 both pass on Nov. 5th, RM4 will only need 55% of the vote to pass.
Votes for RM4 will be aggregated across all nine counties—even if it does not cross the threshold in some counties, RM4 will take effect across the region if it earns enough votes overall.
The SV@Home Action Fund and Working Partnerships USA are leading the campaign effort in Santa Clara County, alongside our counterparts in eight other counties, coordinated by a regional campaign team. In Santa Clara County, we are your points of contact. We are excited to work with you and make joining this campaign easy for you, your colleagues, your friends, and your neighbors. Whether you help us knock on doors or make phone calls to voters, organize informational meetings or host events, we can only pass RM4 if we all work together.
