Housing Crisis

New State Housing Supply Legislation on the Horizon: Déjà Vu All Over Again?

Published on: January 22, 2021 | By Margo Bradish, Scott Birkey and Amy Y. Foo

Despite a promising start, last year’s state legislative session was a relative bust for housing legislation as the Legislature justifiably focused on the pandemic in 2020. Although we expect the Legislature will continue to grapple with legislative relief measures to address COVID concerns, there is some potentially promising housing supply legislation on the horizon for the 2021-2022 session.

Below is a summary of recently introduced state housing supply legislation to watch this session. Perhaps not surprisingly, the theme for this year’s housing legislation seems to be, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” Continue reading

Santa Clara County Trial Court Upholds Another Housing Project Using SB 35

Published on: May 11, 2020 | By Scott Birkey, Margo Bradish, Linda Klein and Eric J. Cohn

When Senate Bill 35 (SB 35) was enacted in September 2017, the streamlined ministerial approval process it created for eligible housing developments was optimistically viewed as a powerful tool for developers to create more housing, especially in NIMBY jurisdictions loath to approve additional residential development. Over the past two weeks, two decisions on SB 35—both decided by the Honorable Helen E. Williams of the Santa Clara County Superior Court—solidified just how powerful a tool SB 35 can be. Continue reading

Will California Ever Adopt Real Housing Reform?

Published on: March 27, 2018 | By Andrew Sabey

Californians could be forgiven for becoming cynical about our State Legislature’s willingness or ability to tackle the ever-worsening housing crisis. California’s rising home values, outpacing people’s ability to afford to buy or rent decent housing close to the job centers, is not a new phenomenon. But it has worsened. While our Legislature has repeatedly recognized that there is a housing crisis, nothing in the past legislative cycles has emerged that will actually stem the tide.

Could that be changing? In the current session, there are two bills sponsored by state senator Scott Wiener that are worth watching: SB 827 and SB 828. These two bills follow on Senator Wiener’s successful introduction of SB 35 last year. While SB 35 was intended to make certain types of urban infill housing “by-right,” Senator Wiener himself has recognized that SB 35 alone (with all of its qualifications and conditions) may not yield much in the way of new housing.

Surprise! California Has a Housing Crisis!!!

Published on: January 18, 2017 | By Tim Paone

In its recent draft assessment of “California’s Housing Future,” the State’s Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) made these observations, among many others:

California needs 180,000 new homes each year.
Over the last ten years, annual production has averaged less than 80,000 homes.
Californians overpay for housing, commute too far, and are overcrowded.
The existing system of land use regulation creates barriers to development.
The housing crisis makes it difficult for California businesses to attract and retain employees.
A smaller percentage of Californians own their homes than at any time since the 1940s.
The housing shortage disproportionately impacts California’s younger residents and the economically and physically disadvantaged.
California is home to 12% of the nation’s population and 22% of the nation’s homeless.
Funding for affordable housing is unstable.
High housing costs increase health care costs and decrease educational outcomes.
California’s population will grow from today’s 39 million to 50 million by 2050.

While this report is candid and open, its findings mean little if California’s elected officials at every level do nothing meaningful to counter these growing and disturbing – but hardly surprising – realities. The Legislature cannot continue to avoid reconciling legitimate environmental concerns, the challenges of climate change, the need for greater housing affordability, and the increasing demand for housing of all types by avoiding true CEQA reform and adopting ever increasing restrictions on new housing development. Nor can it simply decree that more affordable housing be built, ignoring the reality that those who build homes will not do so unless it makes sound business sense. At the local level, residents understandably want to avoid traffic jams and overcrowding and would like to define their own visions of their communities. Those who own their homes are thrilled by the increases in home prices resulting from the housing shortage. But when every community says “We don’t oppose more housing, just do it somewhere else,” there ultimately is nowhere else in California to go. Combine these factors with environmental solutions that, intended or not, produce elitist housing outcomes, and we have a housing crisis which no one denies, but the most powerful forces in the state are seemingly helpless to address. The challenges are complex and there’s no easy answer, but looking the other way only increases the cost of housing, makes doing business in California less attractive, and sends our young adults elsewhere. That, for sure, is not an acceptable outcome.

Public comment on the HCD draft report is open through March 4. Click here for the full draft report or go directly to the HCD website.

This post was previously published by Tim Paone in LinkedIn.