Opponents of allowing more dense housing construction associate the solution with gentrification, but this gets the question backwards. Gentrification is the result of artificially constricted housing supply, which pushes the demand for new housing into poorer neighborhoods, where new entrants…
California Lawmakers Kill Housing Bill After Fierce Debate
Just before a committee of California state senators voted on a landmark bill to ramp up housing production by overriding local resistance, legislator after legislator talked about a dire affordable-housing crisis that demanded bold action and a marked increase in…
SB 827 would maximize housing near transit in California
California’s thriving economy continues to be the workhorse of American prosperity. In recent years, our innovative companies and highly-skilled workforce have propelled the Golden State to the sixth largest economy in the world. However, there’s huge trouble on the horizon:…
California housing showdown draws key interest groups
California YIMBY Co-Founder Brian Hanlon, who started lobbying for pro-housing bills last year, promises to continue pushing an ambitious housing agenda for California no matter the outcome of Sen. Scott Wiener’s bill, SB 827. He said what’s needed is a…
A Green House Divided
“I don’t want us painted as not understanding what the problem is,” Sierra Club California Director Kathryn Phillips says. “We know there’s a housing problem. We want infill development.” Although Phillips says she supports infill development around mass transit, it’s hard…
SB 827 Senate Amendments: Affordability, Transit Lines, Height, Ellis Act Protections & More
California has a housing deficit approaching 4 million homes, and our housing shortage is a huge threat to our state’s diversity, economy, environment, and quality of life. I introduced SB 827 to create more opportunities for housing where we need…
L.A.’s land use rules were born out of racism and segregation. They’re not worth fighting for
Last week, the Los Angeles City Council voted to oppose SB 827. While some council members acknowledged that we need to do more on housing affordability, they also used metaphors like “blowing up” and “chainsawing” neighborhoods to justify rejecting SB…
California Has a Controversial Plan to Solve Its Housing Crisis.
“The only way we will meet our climate and air quality goals is to build a lot more housing and to do so in urbanized areas accessible to public transportation,” Sen. Scott Wiener said. There’s research to back up that…
California’s housing crisis reaches from the homeless to the middle class
There are many reasons for California’s failure to keep up with housing demand. One is the “incumbency effect” — existing residents are hostile to changes that might increase traffic, attract residents of lower income and different ethnicities, or produce other…
California’s Housing Prices Need to Come Down
Housing in California has been appreciating much more quickly than in the aggregate of the U.S. for about half a century. While rising rents and home values have benefitted many along the way, they have become enough of a burden…