Liccardo wants to help turn vacant buildings to housing
New legislation introduced by U.S. Rep. Sam Liccardo, D-San Jose, would establish a federally-funded grant program to assist local communities in turning vacant commercial buildings into housing.
The bill — named the Revitalizing Empty Structures Into Desirable Environments, or RESIDE, Act, also introduced by a bipartisan group of Liccardo’s colleagues — would establish a pilot program for repurposing unused, large-scale buildings into affordable housing, serving households making less than the median income.
It would be financed via residual funds from the already-existing HOME Investments Program, a block grant the federal government offers to states and cities. The Department of Housing and Urban Development would be responsible for meting out the grants, and the amount per community isn’t specified in the bill text.
For Liccardo, the bill is a first step in moving forward with commercial building conversion, an issue that he ran on as a potential solution to the country’s housing crisis. His original idea — to fund those conversions with new market tax credits and create a sustainable financial source — is not in the legislation.
“I would be the first to say, if I were to design [legislation] to do this from scratch, this wouldn't be the first place I would go,” he said. “This helps us get our foot in the door.”
When it comes to housing legislation, Liccardo is seeking wins and compromise where he can find them in an increasingly divisive political environment, he said.
While some of his more ambitious ideas — like substantially increasing the number of housing choice vouchers — are unlikely to receive bipartisan support, he’s hopeful that smaller steps like this one can move housing policy in the right direction.
“I’m looking for those areas where there is agreement — in this case, around eliminating barriers, enabling financing, reducing red tape and expanding housing supply,” Liccardo said. “Those are areas where there can be bipartisan collaboration.”
The federal government needs to be more active in financing solutions for creating new housing stock, Liccardo said, and this legislation is a place to start.
“These are really singles and maybe doubles,” he said. “We need to start to hit some singles and doubles in this space. We need to start exercising our bipartisan muscle, which has atrophied for decades.”