LET’S TALK
ABOUT SENATE BILL 50 Briana Frazier
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or a moment, we all thought that California had a chance to turn the tables around and make housing in the state work. The controversial bill requires cities and the county governments to alter the local zoning laws to allow for more modern, denser housing near the job centres and public transportations. Right now, the state is required to come up with means to house about 150,000 homeless people, this bill could have provided the answer, but unfortunately, it died in the state senate. Developers, landlords, Facebook, construction unions, the state Chamber of Commerce, Realtors, environmental groups and even the AARP wanted to see the bill pass. And so, did the big city mayors including San Francisco’s London Breed and San Jose’s Sam Liccardo. The list goes on to include Senator Toni Atkins, Democratic leader of the State Senate who is very vocal in matters deciding which bills make it out of the Chamber. Nonetheless, even with the support of the “big fish” the bill failed to get enough votes in the California senate. The bill was particularly crucial for the Governor, and now the question floating around is; how will he meet the plan to build millions of new homes? And if cities and anti-gentrification activists and suburban homeowners could stymie the assortment of powerful interests backing the bill, what pro-development policy options are left?
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While California is facing the wrath of Coronavirus, added to the list is the housing crisis. It has been blamed for all sorts of maladies, from homelessness to emigration y businesses and business seeking a more affordable environment. The blame for the shortage of housing in the state has been attributed to all sort of things; conservatives tend to complain about environmental and building regulations while progressives blast about the greedy landlords and developers and the state tax code that is typically to freeze the property ownership. However, everyone agrees on one thing; NIMBYism is the problem. And the Governor could not hold himself. In a recent State of the State address, he blasted stating that almost every Californian is a NIMBY. The speech went ahead to detail a roster of forces that are responsible for the housing crunch, including blaming the not-in-my-backyard. Well, the Governor is 100% right in tying the inaction to self-interest. This is a natural defence mechanism against change in almost all situations, especially when an issue like housing put trillions of dollars of wealth at stake. “Time and time again, bigger, bolder reform hasn’t happened — in part because of some legitimate concerns,” his prepared text reads. “Many of our lowest-income residents understandably worry about being pushed out THE POWER IS NOW MAGAZINE | APRIL 2020
