Housing Laws that Allow the Theft of Community Wealth
By Susan Kirsch : by permission
You’ve heard the story about frogs who don’t leap out of a kettle of water that is slowly brought to a boil. The story illustrates how people, like frogs, will succumb to slow changes without taking action. The story is a myth, but the principle holds true for California’s single-family homeowners, neighborhoods and communities.
Having passed over 64 housing bills in the past four years, the state legislature is misguidedly turning up the heat to eliminate single-family zoning. In 2021, for example, they are likely to pass a bill that will allow duplexes to be built on most single-family lots, regardless of local zoning. Legislators repeatedly attack cities’ rights to self-determination, which opens the door to marauding real estate speculators.
The reasons change but the objective stays the same.
First high-density housing was proposed as a solution to climate change: build multi-family units near transit to reduce traffic and greenhouse gas emissions. That motto was abandoned.
Then high-density housing was marketed as the solution to “affordable” housing. But the housing frenzy was based on the exaggerated claim that California faced a 3.5M housing unit shortage.
Now legislators are saying that zoning for single-family homes should be eliminated because it is racist. They assume eliminating local control will solve historic inequities and corporate developers and landlords will increase affordability.
Our single-family home neighborhoods are at risk along with the middle class. What’s going on?… (more)
