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> The state legislature needs to pass bills to allow greater housing density and more construction throughout the state. The Legislature did just that with the
by pcwalton 7y ago
> The state legislature needs to pass bills to allow greater housing density and more construction throughout the state.
The Legislature did just that with the ADU bills that effectively abolish single-family zoning throughout the state. Additionally, SB 330 (the Housing Crisis Act) puts a stop to some of the more egregious forms of NIMBYism. Citizens can sue cities that refuse to follow the law under the Housing Accountability Act, which was recently strengthened; no such recourse is available to residents of most other states.
More must be done, but California is now leading the way in cracking down on NIMBYism. I predict that states like Texas are going to see the NIMBY pattern play out in time (if they aren't already—look at Austin), leading to skyrocketing housing costs. They will have to do the same thing in time. California is just ahead of the curve.
- gbronner 7y agoAt the same time, they passed rent control, and the jurisdictions that have the worst housing crises have the strongest rent control. Once a few people rent out their ADUs and then find that they can't evict their tenants as their needs change, very few people are going to be willing to invest the several hundred thousand necessary to permit and build one.
- pcwalton 7y agoThe statewide rent cap is significantly above the amount rents have been rising on their own. It also expires after 10 years. And the cities with the strongest rent control--San Francisco and Los Angeles--are also the cities that have been seeing a boom in ADU construction, even though the dysfunctional rent control policies of those cities apply to a lot of those ADUs. The statewide rent cap isn't likely to be a meaningful impediment to ADU construction. Much more problematic is the cost of constructing the ADU in the first place.