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CP&DR Vol. 36 No. 2 February 2021

Many housing advocates considered the assignment of 1 .3 million new housing units to Southern California via 2019’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation process to be a serious win. It was followed up by an intra-regional allocation process that weighted units toward high-cost, high-demand coastal cities, for another win. Last month, they scored a few more wins — 50 to be exact.

Sometime in the late 1980s  I cant find a hyperlink at this late date in history  the brash new mayor of Modesto went to a meeting of the Association of Bay Area Governments and argued that the Central Valley should be part the conversation about future of Bay Area growth. It was the early days of supercommuters and, during one of Californias periodic housing booms, Bay Area commuters were breaking down the wall to the Central Valley. In return, Carol Whiteside wanted to break down the wall that shut her out of regional planning in the Bay Area. It was a slow news day and Carol got a lot of headlines, though the truth of the matter was that nobody in snooty Bay Area planning circles took her very seriously. But Carol, who died Friday at the age of 78, was not easily deterred. In 20 years as a leader on growth issues in California  four as mayor, six in the administration of Pete Wilson, and 10 as head of the Great Valley Center  she probably had more influence over the shape of regional planning in California than any other single individual. In Modesto, where she served one term each on the school board, the city council, and as mayor, Carol was one of those people folks call a force of nature, as the Modesto Bees lengthy and loving obituary made clear. (A more personal and moving remembrance by longtime Bee reporter Garth Stapley can be found here.) But it was in her subsequent roles with the Wilson Administration and the Great Valley Center  an institution that came into being entirely because of the force of her personality  that she left her most lasting impression on the state. She came into state government as an aide to Doug Wheeler, Wilsons natural resources secretary, and stayed on as director of intergovernmental relations  essentially, Wilsons liaison to cities and counties around the state. Proposition 13 had given the state far more control over local finances, and the locals  chafing over this loss of control  retaliated by pursuing narrowly focused planning goals, often cutting the amount of housing permitted (which typically was  and still is  a money-loser from a tax perspective) while maximizing retail space (which generated sales tax). The result was, for the first time, a lack of housing production in job-rich areas  the early symptoms of todays mega-crisis in housing in California. In 1988, longtime Assembly Speaker Willie Brown had proposed simply abolishing local government altogether and replacing it with a small number of regional governments. Fresh off her mayoral appearance at ABAG, Carol jumped into this fray with gusto, traveling the state constantly and trying to find solutions that would retain local control while at the same time meeting regional needs. Admittedly, this was a little easier in those days: the challenges of balancing climate change and extreme housing underproduction lay ahead. Its also worth noting that, on growth issues, Wilson  the former mayor of San Diego  was a much more moderate Republican than his current reputation would suggest. But its important to understand how different she was from most of her contemporaries who moved from local to state government in the ‘90s After term limits passed in 1990  the same year Wilson was elected governor  the legislature opened up for the first time in decades and many city and county elected officials moved up. Most were Democrats, many had strong ties to labor, and almost all of them seemed to immediately forget where they came from: They prioritized the states needs over the state-local relationship. By contrast, Carol  working in the executive branch for a moderate Republican governor  did not. Wheeler and others who worked with her during this time, including Wheelers longtime undersecretary Michael Mantell, recall that she was extraordinarily skilled at navigating the often-difficult relationship between the state and local governments. Part of her skill was simply her passion for both local government  government close to the people, something Republicans once valued  and a regional approach to both growth management and economic development. She preached regionalism wherever she went, often to a lukewarm response. But in 1997 she was able to create for herself the ultimate perch for regional advocacy in California: She persuaded several Bay Area foundations to stake her in creating the Great Valley Center, an organization that advocated for a regional approach in the 18-county Central Valley of California. The Central Valley has often been overlooked as a force in California and Carol was determined to change that. In the 10 years that she ran the Great Valley Center, she was the most powerful person in the Valley  more powerful than any individual politician or business leader. She used that power to promote the idea that the Central Valley was a region that needed to work together to get things done but also that needed to be taken seriously by the political and economic leaders in the Bay Area and Los Angeles. She largely succeeded  helped by the fact that the Central Valley was, at the time, Californias swing political district. Part of Carols success was due to her passion and commitment, but part of it was due to the fact that she was a warm, caring, and funny person. The Modesto Bee obituary called her smart, creative, tough, curious, stubborn, brilliant and bold" and that pretty much sums it up. When we were on panels together at conferences, which was pretty much all the time back in the '90s, she would often sit next to me and draw pictures of birds for me to take home to my daughter. And she often used her own culinary skill to bring people together. She was a gourmet chef and had once taught classes on cooking. She once greeted me at her front door holding a blow torch. (She was making creme brule). Bill Higgins, now head of the California Association of Councils of Governments (CALCOG), told me the story about how she once invited him to a Fourth of July party where the guests all dressed up as characters. Higgins jokingly suggested that it be filmed as if it were Iron Chef, so she told him to bring a video camera and do the recording himself. Just out of law school, Bill didnt have a video camera, much less the money to buy one, but nonetheless he went out and purchased one in order to film the entire event  then returned the camera to Best Buy because he couldnt afford it. Because, as he told me the other day, who is going to say no to Carol? We will all miss Carol, and I hope that her example can shine forth in the future, as we continue  in a changed and complicated world  to wrestle with the same issues that engaged her for so long. CP&DR is a subscriber-supported publication. This article is being provided free of charge, but most articles are available only on a premium basis. For FULL ACCESS to all our premium content - Subscribe Online Today! (If you're not a subscriber premium articles can be purchased for just $5 each by visiting our online Single Purchase Store)

Statewide Homebuilding Proceeds Slowly amid Pandemic Nationally, homebuilding was way up in 2020, but California, despite a housing shortage in the millions of units, saw only a modest year-over-year bump in new permits. California recorded 61,700 new permits for single-family residences, according to Census Bureau data, putting the state up 4 percent from 2019. Meanwhile, single-family permits rose 14 percent elsewhere in the U.S., and only 11 states performed worse than California. Last year, California had 42,800 multifamily permits, 15 percent lower in a year and the slowest pace since 2013. In the rest of the U.S., multifamily permits dipped 10 percent to the slowest pace since 2017. Still, California underperformed with just a 7.6 percent share of U.S. multifamily permitting in 2020 compared with a 9 percent average in the previous five years. (See related CP&DR coverage .) State Audit Faults Homelessness Service Providers State auditors conducted an audit of Continuum of Care (CoC) agencies charged with coordinating homeless services, were critical of state agencies that have struggled to coordinate efforts to address homelessness, and failed to comply with federal regulations or follow best practices. The homeless council has failed to coordinate existing funding and establish partnerships with stakeholders with stakeholders to develop strategies to end homelessness: as a result, the state continues to lack a comprehensive understanding of its spending to address homelessness, the specific services the programs provide, or the individuals who receive those services. The audit found three additional factors that make state guidance especially necessary, namely that CoC's are not employing best practices, have not adequately determined whether it has sufficient service providers to meet need, and two of the five CoCs failed to have current comprehensive plans. Land Available for Single-Family Homes in California Cities Dwindling San Diego has the fewest available lots in the nation for new single-family housing according to a real estate research firm in a new report. It also said the number of available lots had decreased 28 percent in a year. While the nationwide lot supply is down 9 percent, San Francisco and Los Angeles actually had increases. San Francisco was up 22 percent and Los Angeles was up 13 percent. The index ranking is based on lots zoned for housing, and only applies to single-family homes, so despite the lack of vacant lots and challenging terrain, the city has made gains with vertical construction, particularly downtown. However, San Diego County County homebuilding, even with multifamily construction, is down historically. Report: State Planning Grant Program Leads to Over 11,000 New Homes California Housing Partnership released a five-year investment impact report cataloging the more than 127 developments the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities (AHSC) program has invested in at a cost of $1.66 billion. The impact to date on the affordable housing front are 11,317 new affordable homes serving an estimated 155,600 households, and an estimated $9,500 average yearly savings for households living in AHSC-funded housing. For transportation, the organization created or improved over 1,300 new crosswalks, 189 miles of new and improved bike lanes, and provided 10,840 transit passes to residents. Since AHSC's goals are linked to climate targets, the impact report on those metrics as well. An estimated 21,000 cars were removed from the road each year, 3.0 million metric tons of GHG emissions avoided, and over 250 million fewer miles driven in a car each year, according to the report. CP&DR Coverage: Housing Laws Work as Intended in Marin County A clever developer from Los Angeles has figured out how to use SB 35 – along with low-income housing tax credits and density bonuses – to make ministerial review of an affordable housing project work in a community that’s located in an affluent county – but already has lots of affordable housing. And key to making the project work was not just SB 35, but also AB 1763, a 2019 bill that gave affordable housing developers way more leverage over local governments. The issue raised is whether SB 35, cleverly applied, will alleviate housing problems in a place like Marin County or raise environmental justice concerns related to the concentration of affordable housing – or both. Quick Hits & Updates The Berkeley City Council may have the votes to end single-family zoning. New legislation, introduced by the city's vice mayor, would forbid single-family zoned areas and allow more apartments, duplexes, or triplexes, and would allow for converting single-family homes to multifamily homes. (See related CP&DR coverage .) Environmental groups are appealing Alameda County court's decision to allow a major controversial housing development to move forward. The plan calls for 469 homes on the edge of Newark's wetlands. The ruling dismissed the California Environmental Quality Act lawsuit, which argued the city of Newark "failed to consider the dramatically increased sea-level rise projections of recent years." The San Diego County Board of Supervisors approved a climate change proposal, the Regional Sustainability Plan, that aims to bring the county's carbon issues to zero by 2035. Environmental groups have praised the plan as "a noble and necessary effort." San Bernadino County's transportation agency  approved a proposal from Elon Musk for a tunnel serving Ontario Airport, and a contract for a 4-mile underground loop appears imminent. Musk and San Bernadino's transportation agency have initiated exclusive negotiations, after which the contract would go to the board for approval. If the two sides reach an agreement, operation could begin in late 2023 or early 2024. Los Angeles officials say three homelessness initiatives are on track to exceed initial projections, with a 7,961 supportive housing units in the pipeline from Proposition HHH. A Bridge Home, a program that creates interim housing facilities, has exceeded its goal of 15 facilities with 28 facilities completed and three in development. T wo environmental groups filed suit to reverse the approval of "Sanctuary West", a housing development that would fill 'restorable' San Francisco Bay wetlands and construct 469 luxury housing units. The site, which is within a FEMA flood zone, has been widely criticized by environmentalists, housing advocates, and climate experts. The Newport Beach City Council voted unanimously to approve a 13-acre residential project near John Wayne airport that will bring 312 apartment units--including 13 marked as low income or affordable--atop an 825-space parking structure, as well as an approximately one-acre public park. Inglewood will use eminent domain to secure 11 properties needed for a Los Angles Clippers basketball arena. The properties include two warehouses and a Church's Chicken. The rest are vacant or only used for billboards. Once acquired, Inglewood will transfer the land to the arena's private developers. A new survey by the Harris Poll and the Chicago Council on Global Affairs offers evidence that rather than decamping for the suburbs, city residents remain committed to cities. The survey results indicate that the bulk of residents across community type--big city, inner suburb and outer suburb--are happy with where they live, and say they want to live in the type of community in which they currently reside. (See related CP&DR coverage .) The Biden administration introduced new environmental directives, including a suspension of new oil and gas development on federal lands. Oil and gas companies, mostly operated off the Southern California coast and in Kern and Monterey counties, are already fighting the move. Among the other executive actions was a call to conserve 30 percent of all the nation's lands and ocean by 2030, which could include large swaths of Northern California and the Central Coast. While California won't see new fossil fuel extraction on federal lands and waters, the state still permits new drilling on private lands, where the majority of the state's oil and gas development takes place. The real estate investment trust that operates the Queen Mary in Long Beach and owns 26 other hotels filed for bankruptcy protection. The bankruptcy filing says Eagle Hospitality has more than $500 million in liabilities. Despite the financial devastation the pandemic has wrought on the hotel industry, bankruptcies have been rare--just two hotel companies with more than $50 million of liabilities filed for bankruptcy last year. A $2.5 billion dam near Pacheco Pass in Santa Clara County will move forward despite the discovery of unstable geology that will double the dam's cost. Over 100 test borings on the site found that crews would have to dig down 30 feet deeper to hit bedrock than previously thought, adding three years to construction and at least $1 billion in additional costs for the 319-foot-high dam. A plan to temporarily place an observation wheel in San Diego’s Balboa Park has been abandoned by proponents. The so-called Balboa Park Star was intended as a pandemic-friendly activity that could promote more foot traffic in the park. An online petition in opposition to the project with over 3,700 signees called it a "for-profit Ferris Wheel" that would use public property for private profit. An activist group in Santa Ana is spearheading an effort to block a city-council approved plan to demolish a budget-friendly grocery store to clear the way for a luxury apartment development. At issue is whether the loss of the grocery store would lead to a "food desert" and would further displace Santa Ana residents who would not be able to afford the estimated $1,500 to $3,500 rent prices. In response to backlash from stakeholders in San Francisco, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission voted unanimously to study the equity impacts of Plan Bay Area 2050 and produce an alternative plan that better considers how ambitious housing, transportation and climate goals might make displacement a casualty of greenhouse gas emission reduction targets.

Ambitious Plan Would Unite By Area by Rail A new multiyear planning process by BART and regional rail providers, dubbed Link21, will establish a case for greater integration of rail service across the Bay Area, the Sacramento area, San Joaquin Valley, and the Monterey region. The plan includes new and enhanced services on a variety of rail networks in the region, including BART, Caltrain, SMART Rail, California High-Speed Rail, and Amtrak corridors into the Central Valley. A central project in the plan will be a second Transbay Tube for the BART system. In 2014, BART began officially studying the idea of a Transbay Tube, and since then, the idea of a second train connection has been batted around on multiple occasions. But with Link21 , the second train crossing takes a big step toward reality. Between BART and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, over $370 million has gone toward project planning. The whole project , according to current estimates, may cost $29 billion. The Link21 anticipates fully operational service by 2040. UCSF Moves Ahead with Controversial Expansion Plan The University of California at San Francisco's $3 billion, 30-year modernization plan for its Parnassus Heights campus was approved by the University of California Board of Regents. The vote sets the stage for a massive construction project that includes a new hospital and research facilities as well as 1,200 units of housing for students and faculty. The project faced considerable opposition from surrounding residents and San Francisco Supervisors. The vote comes a week after the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to ask the regents to delay the decision so that questions about UCSF's commitment to affordable housing and job training, along with transportation issues, could be addressed. As part of negotiations with Mayor London Breed's office, the medical school and hospital agreed to increase housing in the plan from 750 to 1,260 units and make 40 percent available at below market rates. In addition, UCSF agreed to invest $20 million in transportation improvements. High Speed Rail Faces Further Cost Overruns California’s bullet train project is facing setbacks after setback as estimated costs have swelled according to recent reports from the California High Speed Rail Authority,. To partially compensate for the $2 billion budget increase on the first phase of construction, the agency announced it will reduce the Bakersfield-to-Merced route down from two tracks to one, saving $1 billion. The state is scrambling to secure additional cash for the project and keep federal dollars that are tied to a 2022 deadline, asking the Biden California is hoping to get back nearly $1 billion in grant money cancelled by the previous administration. As for state funding, the bullet train authority will seek a $4.1 billion appropriation to complete construction in the Central Valley. The appropriation would come out of a 2008 bond fund that voters approved. If the Legislature releases the funds, it would be the first time since 2012. (See prior CP&DR coverage .) CP&DR Commentary: Legal Questions about YIMBY Lawsuit Housing advocates YIMBY Law and YIMBY Action sued the state of California last week, arguing the Department of Housing and Community Development misjudged the housing need of the San Francisco Bay Area. The suit raises important questions at the intersection of transportation, climate, and housing policy.The activists’ complaint has merit. HCD appears to have overlooked an older adjustment factor, one which the Legislature added with a landmark climate change bill back in 2008: jobs-housing imbalance. But, the Legislature, not the courts, should resolve it. Quick Hits & Updates A letter to California high-speed officials from a major bullet train contractor, obtained by the Los Angeles Times, contradicts state claims that the line will meet a key 2022 federal deadline. The construction company Tutor Perini alleges that unresolved problems ranging from a lack of continuity among leadership and failure to secure land, utilities, and partnerships will result in delays and layoffs. When controlling for household demographics, households in transit-oriented developments own fewer and more fuel-efficient cars, driver fewer miles, and use transit more, according to research out of Fresno State. A study evaluating the impact of TOD on household expenditures found that on average, households save $1,232 per year compared to non-TOD counterparts with similar demographics, accounting for 18 percent of their total annual transportation expenses. The company that bribed former Los Angeles Councilmember Jose Huizar to earn his vote for a 35-story project in downtown's Arts District will pay $1.2 million in a non-prosecution agreement with the U.S. Attorney's Office. Under the agreement, CP Employer admitted and accepted responsibility as well as agreed to fully cooperate with the FBI's ongoing public corruption probe. Encinitas 's first farming-focused housing community--part of a national "agrihood" movement-- won unanimous permit approval and enthusiastic praise from Encinitas planning commissioners. The new development, to be called Fox Point Farms calls for the construction of 250 homes, a 5.5-acre farmland area, a farm stand, a farm-to-table restaurant, and a community recreation center. A giant land sale in Calimesa with 3,052 approved home sites in a 2,590-acre Summerwind Trails master-planned community is the second largest sale of lots in eight years. The sale comes as builder--and buyer--interest has piqued in the Inland Empire, focused recently on sites off the I-10 between Calimesa and Beaumont. San Diego Port commissioners have rejected a $455 million hotel project that would have added more than 1,000 rooms. Port commissioners said they were troubled by the development's size and its impacts on public vistas. Four years in the making, the Fifth Avenue Landing development would have included more than two acres of public areas and the port's first-ever proposal for affordable lodging. Los Angeles City Councilmemeber Kevin de Leon announced he will introduce motions with the goal of creating 25,000 new housing units for homeless people by 2025. With the motions, De Leon says he is attempting to tackle a convoluted system for permitting and approving housing projects that has contributed to slow progress of housing projects funded by Proposition HHH. The San Diego City Council approved 44 policy changes in its yearly zoning code update, many that will impact housing. One will allow more housing projects under airplane flight paths by increasing height limits and allowing more dense mixed-use projects in several areas city-wide. The city also added three new incentives to encourage developers to build for moderate-income residents, as well as loosened requirements for developers looking to convert ground-floor commercial space to housing. A group of rideshare and delivery drivers from Uber, Lyft, Doordash, and Instacart filed a petition with the California Supreme Court to invalidate Prop 22, the measure approved in November that declared them independent contractors. The drivers argue that Prop 22 unconstitutionally usurps the legislature's authority over worker's compensation. (See related CP&DR commentary .) A conservation trust purchased Sumner Peck Ranch, a stretch of riverside land that the group hopes to transform, with the addition of other properties, into a 22-mile public park in north Fresno. The land is replete with oak forest and riparian scenery alongside acres of landscaped event space. After 46 years at the Coastal Commission --the longest term in the agency's history--Susan Hansch will step down at the end of January. Susan's legacy includes devoting time to education programs and overseeing the publishing of a number of books filled with coastal history, maps, and beach access points along California's more than 1,200 miles off shore. Developers behind a new project that would add 24 apartments above office space in downtown Santa Rosa are asking the City Council to override objections that the proposed five-story project is too tall for its location. Though Santa Rosa has sought to incentivize infill projects that add more housing downtown, even loosening height limits, The Flats development brought forward was denied approval by the city’s Cultural Heritage Board. A new report from the Mineta Transportation Institute found that Californians want their state to invest in safer, greener, and more efficient transportation systems. Just over half of the respondents put making getting around without driving more convenient a priority, throwing support behind frequent public transit service, discounted fares for low-income Californians, and building bike paths as ways to achieve that goal. San Diego County Supervisors voted to collaborate with UC San Diego to create a blueprint for reducing the region’s carbon footprint to zero by 2035. UCSD's School of Global Policy and Strategy will draft a plan that would establish a framework for zeroing out carbon emissions that cities through the county can embrace. The California Air Resources Board  appointed Chanell Fletcher, currently ClimatePlan’s Executive Director, to oversee its work on environmental justice and racial equity. Fletcher will be the point person on environmental justice within the agency and provide input on “ARB’s programs designed to address disproportionate impacts from air pollution and climate change and associated chronic health conditions affecting Black, Latinx and other communities of color across the state, according to the press announcement.

Compared to California’s superstar cities, Sacramento has kept a low profile, dutifully maintaining its impression of a staid Midwestern city. On land use, though, the state capital has taken a decidedly progressive turn.

The City of San Jose violated the California Environmental Quality Act by not providing information about an updated Notice of Determination – but CEQA contains no penalty or remedy for such a violation, an appellate court has ruled. The court also ruled that, even though a citizen group amended its lawsuit to include the correct defendants, the amended lawsuit came after the 30-day deadline for filing CEQA lawsuits. The court said acknowledged that the outcome of the case was “uncomfortable.”

As CP&DR has written repeatedly over the last couple of years, SB 35 is turning project-level housing review upside down, especially in the Bay Area. But by and large, SB 35 – which limits cities to ministerial review over housing projects in some circumstances – has been used to promote market-rate projects in upscale locations like Berkeley , Cupertino , and Los Altos . This isn’t surprising, especially since a precondition for SB 35 is paying construction laborers prevailing wage – an expensive proposition that usually requires a big revenue stream.

Housing Advocates Sue State for More Units YIMBY groups have filed a lawsuit against California's Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), alleging that the state agency ignored the law requiring the state to plan for a "jobs-housing balance" when determining Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) for the 2023-31 cycle in the San Francisco Bay Area. According to the suit, an accurate accounting would raise the Bay Area's housing need from 441,000 homes to 580,000. The lawsuit comes just two weeks after the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) adopted the state's RHNA number of 441,000. The YIMBY groups are basing their suit on a study by the UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Studies that calculated the 138,000 home deficit. (See related CP&DR commentary .) Huntington Beach Loses Suit over State Housing Laws A Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled against Huntington Beach in a lawsuit brought by the city protesting Senate Bills 35 and 1333. The city will not appeal the decision after a 5-2 vote by the Huntington Beach City Council in favor of dropping the case. A city councilmember went on the recording stating the lawsuit was moot since Huntington Beach's housing element is now compliant with the bills. The suit's basis relied on the premise that the state was unconstitutionally usurping city's control of zoning in their respective jurisdictions. In the resulting ruling, Judge Chalfant dissented: " state and intervenors persuasively argue that the specific statues... permit local discretion to the extent feasible." (See prior CP&DR coverage .) Funding Dispute Imperils BART Extension The Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) has withdrawn a plan that would have spent the bulk of Measure B tax dollars on a BART extension into San Jose following outcry from communities across Santa Clara County. A new plan under discussion would distribute Measure B tax dollars to local road and transit projects. But the new plan comes with a bigger price tag: it could add $410 million of debt service over 30 years for the BART extension, and raise overall costs to $2.6 billion more than projected in 2017. The new plan includes $887 million for Caltrain grade separation projects, $156 million for increasing Caltrain's corridor capacity, $230 million for Highway 85 improvements, $236 million for county expressways, $842 million for highway interchanges, and $1.4 billion in discretionary spending. Survey: Housing Crisis Places Dire Burden on Low-Income Residents Researchers from the USC Price Center for Social Innovation conducted an in-person, door-to-door survey of 800 Los Angeles renter households to better understand the impacts of the housing affordability crisis. Survey results suggest that high rents may force Los Angeles households to cut back on critical basic needs in impactful and lasting ways: 73 percent of households were rent-burdened (spending over 50 percent of income on rent and utilities); white and Asian households were less likely to be rent-burdened than Latino and Black households; and households with lower levels of education or with fewer working adults were more likely to be rent-burdened. A majority of households have cut back their consumption of basic needs over the past two years in order to afford rent, including food, clothing, and entertainment and family activities. Household cutbacks appear larger and more enduring in Central Los Angeles, where housing costs have been rising more sharply and for longer than in South Los Angeles. CP&DR Coverage: Marin City Grapples with SB 35 A development in Marin County is testing the efficacy of Senate Bill 35 and stakeholders’ willingness to welcome affordable housing to an affluent area. The fast-tracked approval of a 74-unit affordable housing apartment complex in Marin City, an unincorporated community in Marin County, has again stoked concerns about loss of local control over housing developments approved under Senate Bill 35. But Marin City, a community of 3,100, is already home to a disproportionate amount of multifamily housing. The proposed development, which will be 100% low- and very-low-income housing, is strongly opposed by the local community, he said, which fears the complex could strain sewage and water infrastructure and exacerbate traffic congestion. Quick Hits & Updates Only 3 percent of California's cities and counties are on track to meet state goals to build sufficient housing--and 30 percent aren't issuing permits at all for affordable housing, according to new state data from 2019. The gulf continues to widen between how many homes are being built for lower- and higher-income buyers. Of the more than 116,000 permits issued in 2019, 78 percent were for 78 percent were for above-moderate-income housing. Just 13 percent were for moderate-income housing and 9 percent for very low income housing. Californians for Homeowners, a nonprofit sponsored by the California Association of Realtors, has pledged to come after cities that block new accessory dwelling units. A suit against the City of Coronado accuses the city of illegally blocking the simultaneous construction of houses and ADU's. The group has threatened Irvine over a proposed measure that would impose restrictions on ADUs, and the organization is currently in litigation with Huntington Beach. An environmental impact report for a twice-daily train service between Los Angeles and Coachella Valley is nearing completion, according to Riverside County's transportation commission. The 145-mile route would take less than three-and-a-half hours and offer an alternative to the often contested Route 91 and Interstate 10. A developer is suing the city of La Habra for more than $100 million for blocking a 443-home development as part of what the developer alleges are delay tactics. Plans call for 277 houses and 166 townhomes in four gated neighborhoods, 40 acres of parks, and retail development. Citing the climate crisis and the imminent threat of rising seas, a cohort of Bay Area Democrats in Congress is supporting a new bill seeking $250 million in federal funding over th enext five years to restore tidal wetlands in San Francisco Bay. About 90 percent of the bay's natural wetlands have been destroyed over the past century and a half. San Francisco Supervisor Rafael Mandelman will introduce an ordinance making it harder to build large single-family homes by making it legal for any corner lot in the city to allow up to four units. And the legislation will allow any parcel within a half mile of a major transit stop to be converted into a fourplex. Long Beach will soon require the developers of new housing projects with 10 or more units in the Downtown and Midtown neighborhoods to include affordable units — or pay into a fund to develop affordable units. The policy would allow for a three-year phase-in period for developers to adjust to the new requirements: 5 percent in 2021, 6 percent in 2022, and 11 percent for projects submitted in 2023. The city of Marysville filed a lawsuit in Yuba County Superior Court challenging the decision of the California Department of Transportation to approve the Highway 70 expansion project, according to court documents. In its petition to the court filed on Jan. 5, Marysville alleged that Caltrans failed to comply with the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) when it approved the project. San Diego city leaders want to explore creating California’s first government-run public bank, which could loan out tens of millions of dollars in city reserves for projects related to affordable housing, climate change, social equity or other goals. The City Council took the first step by asking Mayor Todd Gloria to study the feasibility. If approved, San Diego would launch its public bank with hundreds of millions of dollars from city reserves that it now keeps at Bank of America and US Bank. The Los Angeles City Council approved a motion to streamline the permit process for opening a restaurant, with a particular focus on the future of outdoor dining. The new motion advises specific city departments to assess and recommend actions for streamlining. After years of setbacks, the Livermore City Council approved plans for a neighborhood of nearly 4,100 homes, with parks, office and retail space within walking distance of a train station to be built on the 580 Freeway. The Isabel Neighborhood Specific Plan, will develop over the next 20 years of 1,100 acres of mostly vacant land, imagines a complete neighborhood with condos, banks, restaurants, nail salons, and a grocery store; sports fields, hiking trails, and room for a K-12 school. The Encinitas City Council approved a climate emergency declaration that, among other things, declares Encinitas will commit to cutting carbon emissions, educating the public about climate change, and will support climate-friendly development. Councilmembers have said Encinitas should prioritize actions that help reduce global warming because it's a coastal city and sea level rise is a threat to coastal areas. Rancho Cucamonga annexed roughly 4,000 acres of chaparral-covered land that will become a neighborhood with 3,000-single-family homes, some shops, a K-8 school, and open space will 11 miles of trails. The annexation extends the city's boundaries by 6.3 miles, growing the city to about 47 square miles. The land was formerly unincorporated county territory. A Superior Court judge rejected a California Environmental Quality Act claim that would have blocked a bid to build 469 homes on the edge of Newark's wetlands. Because the homes and streets will be constructed in the "upland agricultural" portion of the site along and between adjacent wetlands, they will sit atop as much as 15 feet of fill soil to comply with city flood regulations. The rest of the property will remain largely seasonal wetlands and marshes. A plan to restore the largest coastal wetlands complex in Los Angeles County, Balboa Wetlands Ecological Reserve, has received state approval. The project aims to restore the ecological function of 566 acres of the reserve, which lies between Playa del Rey and Marina del Rey. More approvals will be needed over the next few years, including from the California Coastal Commission, before a final determination is made. Phil Ansel, the head of Los Angeles County's Homeless Initiative, is stepping down. Ansell contributed to the design and implementation of the Measure H sales tax. He oversaw Project Roomkey, and helped lead an effort to use money from the state to purchase hotels and other properties to house homeless people permanently. A new ranking of the nation's best cities for living without a vehicle includes San Francisco, Oakland, Los Angeles and Irvine in the top 20. The rankings are based on factors like walkability, transit options, and pedestrian safety. The city topping the list is San Francisco. Los Angeles is the first Southern California city to show up on the list, ranked at No. 16, followed by Irvine at No. 17. A non-profit organization in Oakland is implementing a pilot program to manage homeless encampments by paying campers for their belongings. The council will only offer money to people who are violating Oakland's new encampment management policy, which bans camps from being within 150 feet of schools or within 50 feet of homes, businesses, and parks. The organization hopes to encourage people who may not want to leave their possessions behind to make a fresh start.

Housing advocates YIMBY Law and YIMBY Action sued the state of California last week, arguing the Department of Housing and Community Development misjudged the housing need of the San Francisco Bay Area. The suit raises important questions at the intersection of transportation, climate, and housing policy. The activists’ complaint has merit. But, the Legislature, not the courts, should resolve it. Here’s what’s at stake. Every eight years, each city in California must adopt a housing element to accommodate their share of regional housing need, including the need for multifamily housing. Regional housing need determinations (RHNDs) are the state’s principal lever for making cities zone for dense, relatively affordable housing. Senate Bill 828, enacted in 2018, substantially revised and improved the process by which HCD determines regional need. Previously, the state had relied almost exclusively on forecasted household growth. The obvious problem with this approach is that household-growth trends are the byproduct of land-use policy. Restrictive zoning impedes population growth. And as housing prices rise, young adults shack up with roommates or move back with their parents rather than forming new households. Using the forecasted number of households to judge the adequacy of a region’s land-use plans gets things exactly backwards. SB 828 tells HCD to top off the baseline, household-forecast RHND with adjustments for cost-burdened and overcrowded households. These adjustments, along with an updated adjustment for vacancy rates, are supposed to better align the supply of housing in California with “healthy housing markets” in other regions of the nation. Taking its new charge to heart, HCD delivered housing targets for the Bay Area and Southern California that are 2-3 times larger than what these regions had to plan for in previous cycles, from 187,990 units to 441,175 units in the Bay Area and from less than a half-million to over 1.3 million in Southern California. So why are housing activists suing instead of celebrating? Because HCD appears to have overlooked an older adjustment factor, one which the Legislature added with a landmark climate change bill back in 2008: jobs-housing imbalance. Escalating home prices have displaced much of the Bay Area’s working class to the Central Valley. As a result, the Bay Area now has the dubious distinction of being a national leader in “supercommuters” —people for whom a one-way trip from home to workplace takes more than 90 minutes. Although there is no settled methodology for adjusting a region’s housing target on account of such imbalances, I and colleagues have explored a couple of different approaches, which suggest that making the jobs-housing adjustment would probably increase the Bay Area’s RHND by roughly 25%. YIMBY Law’s legal argument looks iron-tight at first glance. The statute says that HCD “shall make determinations in writing” on each of the adjustment factors, Gov’t Code 65584.01(b)(2). As best I can tell, no jobs-housing determination was ever made. An agency’s failure to make an assessment the law requires is normally reversible error. But this is not a normal case. There is a strong argument from the structure of the statute that the courts have no jurisdiction to review HCD’s regional need determinations. The RHND is the linchpin of a very complicated, multi-stage process that unfolds on a tight timeline prescribed by statute. The timeline does not accommodate a protracted legal battle – especially when, not incidentally, millions of Californians are under-housed. (See figure.) Bay Area's RHNA Timeline Consider what must get done. “At least 26 months” before the housing elements of cities in a region come due, HCD “shall meet and consult” with the region’s council of governments “regarding the assumptions and methodology to be used to determine the region's housing needs.” After reviewing the council’s data and arguments, “the department shall make determinations in writing” regarding methodology. Next, HCD applies the methodology and cranks out the RHND, which shall achieve “a feasible balance between jobs and housing . . . .” The council of governments then has 30 days to raise objections, and HCD is given 45 days to resolve objections. The statute says nothing about appeals by any other person or entity, or appeals to any authority other than HCD. One way or another, the RHND must be finalized quickly, because “at least 18 months prior” to the due date for housing elements, the region’s council of governments must distribute a “draft allocation” of the RHND to cities and counties. (The localities’ shares of the RHND are called their “RHNAs.”) A rapid-fire sequence then unfolds: cities may appeal the draft allocation to the council of governments, the council holds public hearings on appeals, the council adopts a final allocation following additional hearings, and HCD reviews the final allocation for consistency with the RHND, revising it if necessary. Each step has tight timeframe for completion, usually 45 or 60 days.(Meanwhile, many cities in Southern California have appealed to the Southern California Association of Governments and are threatening to sue the state, because of allocations they consider too high.) The timeframes must be tight because cities need to know their RHNA well in advance of the date their housing element comes due. Cities that lack sufficient capacity under current zoning to accommodate their RHNA must include a site-specific rezoning plan in their housing element. Using an HCD-issued spreadsheet, they must identify which parcels will be rezoned and the densities that will be allowed following rezoning. The Housing Accountability Act requires cities to approve projects on such sites if the project’s density is “consistent with the density specified in the housing element,” even if the project is “inconsistent with both the jurisdiction’s zoning ordinance and general plan land use designation.” Because a city’s housing element controls its development in this and other ways, a city may not adopt a housing element without completing environmental reviews required by the California Environmental Quality Act. This takes time. Yet if it takes too much time—such that the city fails to adopt a housing element on schedule—the city is likely to be found out of compliance. And a city without a compliant housing element apparently forfeits its authority to use its zoning code or general plan as the basis for denying any project with at least 20% low-income or 100% moderate-income units. Hence the need for speed. The Legislature recognized the need for speed when it exempted regional housing need determinations and allocations from CEQA. If every city or interest group dissatisfied with an RHND or RHNA could litigate the question in court, it’s doubtful that any city in the housing-constrained and disputatious regions of our state would be able to adopt a housing element on time. HCD and the courts would then face enormous pressure to ad lib waivers of the statutory deadlines—waivers which the statute does not authorize. A decade ago, the Court of Appeal wrestled with these issues in a case brought by the City of Irvine. Irvine challenged not the RHND, but the very large share of the target that had been allocated to the city. The Court of Appeal concluded that Legislature must have intended to preclude judicial review of RHNAs, because the “the length and intricacy of the process created to determine a municipality's RHNA allocation” did not leave space for plodding, deliberative judicial proceedings. The same goes for challenges to the regional determination of need (RHND). However, it’s not clear that City of Irvine will control YIMBY Law’s case. Generally speaking, judicial review is available by default in California unless the Legislature has “clearly” withdrawn it, and the housing statutes are silent on judicial review of the RHND. Moreover, the decision in City of Irvine seems to rest in part on the court’s belief that large RHNAs have no material consequences for cities, owing to provision of state law that allows cities to set less ambitious “quantified objectives.” That line of thinking, shaky at the time, has been totally undermined by developments in the years since. To give just one example, Senate Bill 35 (2017) tied a city’s obligation to permit certain projects ministerially to the city’s progress toward its RHNA, not some lesser quantified objective. So what’s to be done? YIMBY Law’s suit necessitates a one-time legislative fix. While the jobs-housing adjustment is pretty inconsequential for most California regions (because the region encompasses the “commute sheds” of its major cities), this factor cannot be ignored for the Bay Area. Making the adjustment would also bring the Bay Area’s RHND close to parity with Southern California’s. (Whereas Southern California’s RHND for the upcoming cycle is more than three times larger than its last one, the Bay Area’s new target is only about 2.3 times as large, notwithstanding the Bay Area’s higher housing prices and rents.) It would be simple enough for the Legislature to pass a bill raising the Bay Area’s RHND by 25% (the midpoint of my estimates of the jobs-housing adjustment), while ratifying HCD’s determination in all other respects. If it wished, the Legislature could also extend Bay Area cities’ deadline for submitting housing elements by a few months, though this seems unnecessary. And, to avoid any confusion, the legislature could provide that the 25% jobs-housing increment shall be distributed pro-rata to all cities and income categories. This is an easy rule to apply, and it respects the intraregional allocation chosen by the council of governments. Each Bay Area city’s target for each type of housing (very-low income, low-income, moderate-income, and above-moderate income) would increase by exactly the same percentage. It is odd to think of the Legislature as a pseudo-appellate body sitting in judgment of a state agency or department. But given the process California has chosen for determining and allocating regional housing need, this is as it must be, at least for now. A few years hence, we’ll be able to look back and see how the RHND -> RHNA -> housing element process played out during this cycle, and debate procedural and substantive reforms for the next cycle. Perhaps some will argue that expedited judicial review in a designated court should be part of the process. In the meantime, responsibility for supervising HCD’s determinations of housing need belongs to the Legislature, not the courts. Christopher S. Elmendof is the Martin Luther King, Jr. Professor of Law at UC Davis School of Law. He was consulted informally by the plaintiffs in this case but he has not accepted compensation from the plaintiffs or any other interested party, nor is he representing any party. For a fully footnoted version of this piece, please click here . Image courtesy of Assoc. of Bay Area Governments. Related CP&DR Coverage Senate Bill 35 SCAG Sees Revolt Against RHNA Allocations How Much Housing Does California Need?

The fast-tracked approval of a 74-unit affordable housing apartment complex in Marin City, an unincorporated community in Marin County, has again stoked concerns about loss of local control over housing developments approved under Senate Bill 35.

Berkeley Slashes Parking Requirements Most new housing projects in Berkeley will no longer have to build off-street parking, a move the city hopes will “more aggressively promote” alternative modes of transportation, such as walking and biking, and advance the city’s climate goals. Berkeley officials voted unanimously Tuesday night to eliminate the city’s age-old parking requirements which, in many areas of town, required the creation of one off-street parking spot for each new housing unit. Developers who want to build off-street parking will still be able to do so under the new rules, but the city did put limits in place about how much parking they can build in transit-rich areas without requesting special permission from the city. A recent staff analysis found that nearly 50% of the existing off-street parking spots in housing projects around the city sit empty, meaning that much more parking has been built in Berkeley than the city actually needs. Bay Area to Plan for 441,000 Additional Housing Units  The Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) voted to require cities and counties of the Bay Area to change their zoning laws to allow for the construction of 441,000 new homes as part of the sixth RHNA cycle, which doubles the housing requirement for the current cycle. San Francisco needs to plan for a 22 percent increase in households. San Francisco needs to plan for a 22 percent increase in households, or 82 thousand more units, between 2023 and 2031. That’s up from an allocation of about 29 thousand homes during the 2014-22 cycle. Other Bay Area cities slated to see significant household growth include Emeryville, Millbrae, Colma, Brisbane, Mountain View, Santa Clara, and Milpitas. The most dramatic changes could come in smaller, wealthier bedroom communities, many in Marin and Contra Costa counties. Feds Seek to Undo Discriminatory Housing Policies  President Biden issued an executive order with the goal of correcting racially discriminatory housing policies that contributed to segregated neighborhoods. The order directs the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to look at the effects of the "Preserving Community and Neighborhood Choice," rule, issued by the Trump Administration in late 2020 that in turn replaced the Obama administration's Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) regulation. When the 2020 rule went into place, the move received pushback from civil rights groups and affordable housing organizations who argued the "Save the Suburbs" rule was a step backward in addressing housing discrimination and segregation. The new order doesn't include any new provisions, but rather rolls back to Obama administration regulations. Report: Converting Commercially Zoned Land Can Ease Housing Crisis The UC Berkeley Terner Center released a new report examining the inventory of commercially zoned land in California's four largest metro areas to determine how much land is currently allocated to commercial uses, and where such land is concentrated. The reports key findings were that Los Angeles, San Francisco Bay Area, San Diego, and Sacramento have an abundance of land zoned for commercial uses, and allowing residential development in these areas could introduce new housing in virtually every neighborhood. In particular, commercial land is as prevalent in high-resource areas as it is in low-resource communities. Yet, the amount of commercial land per capita is higher in suburban communities than in urban core areas. Commercial land is concentrated along thoroughfares and in clusters, and housing that would emerge from its residential redevelopment may therefore be similarly concentrated. CP&DR Coverage: Pandemic Migration Patterns While many in the state do not have the means to pick and choose exactly where they want to live, the combination of remote work and pandemic ennui has prompted untold numbers of well-off urban Californians to retreat to suburbs and to exurban “ Zoomtowns .” Low mortgage rates have partially blunted (and led to) rising prices, and the difference between coastal and inland prices has led to a rapid reshuffling of households statewide. The much larger question is whether, after younger Californians especially spent so many years living it up in cities center cities, this trend reflects short-term concerns about the virus or long-term preferences.  Quick Hits & Updates  The Richmond City Council is moving forward with plans to develop up to 4,000 residential units and a 20,000-square-foot grocery store on part of an 86-acre property known as the Zeneca site. Though the land has undergone cleanup for years, it is still polluted with more than 100 chemicals from factories that once animated the site, so much so that it was named a toxic hot spot by the California water board. The development agreement calls for partially cleaning up the site, angering local environmental activists. California landlords are expected to file 240,000 new eviction cases--twice what occurs in a typical year, according to estimates by state court officials. While Gov. Gavin Newsom hopes to extend the renter safeguards that are due to expire in late January, he has also asked the Legislature to increase the judicial system's funding so that courts can prepare for an eventual surge in evictions. If Congress approves a $640 billion housing plan from the Biden administration, one in every five Californians could receive rental assistance from the federal government. The plan lays out intentions to end homelessness, give housing vouchers to 17 million at-risk renters, prioritize homeownership for low income and Black and Latino families, and change discriminatory housing policies.  According to December's report from Realtor.com , Sacramento saw the highest average monthly rent increases in the nation at 20.3 percent and 12.4 percent for studio and one-bedrooms year-over-year, respectively. In contrast, San Francisco led the nation in declines with monthly rates falling 33.8 percent and 22.5 percent, respectively, over the same period. Stanford University  dropped its challenge to a Santa Clara County law that requires residential developers to devote 16 percent of their new units to below-market-rate housing. Stanford's decision concludes a protracted legal tussle over how much affordable housing the university needs to provide if it moves ahead with a campus expansion. A representative for Stanford University said that the county's decision to expand the law to land outside of Stanford prompted the university to withdraw its legal challenge. The former site of Boeing's C-17 production facility in Long Beach is one step closer to being redeveloped. The planning Commission voted unanimously at its Dec. 17 meeting to recommend the City Council approve the establishment of the Globemaster Corridor Specific Plan, which would guide the future development of 437 acres of land just west of the Long Beach Airport. An ambitious plan to change rail service between Oakland the South Bay is chugging along, despite local officials criticizing hte proposal because it would mean the loss of a train station and reduced service at another. Called South Bay Connect , the new service would shift Capitol Corridor passenger trains from running on a section of their current Union Pacific line, which cuts through Fremont to another Union Pacific track farther west. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a motion that calls for a new master plan to be drawn for Whiteman Airport, a northeast San Fernando Valley aviation hub in Pacoima, after a fatal plane crash prompted calls for its closure. The motion calls for a plan that would keep the airport's current use, but also include goals to create local jobs, opportunities for open space and other community benefits. A referendum filed with the county Registrar of Voters in late October seeking to reverse the Santee City Council's approval of a housing development that would have put 3,000 homes off the city's hills. Now the Santee City Council must either repeal its decision or submit the plans for the proposed Fanita Ranch development to the voters in 2022 or have a special election at another time. The developer had promised to build a new fire station and open up 35 miles of trails and 78 acres of parkland. Environmental advocates sued the federal government to block a project that would cut through Southern California's Carrizo Plain National Monument . In their 24-page complaint, the Center for biological Diversity and Los Padres Forestwatch claim the federal government is moving forward with the project without fully analyzing the environmental effects a pipeline would have in the pristine region that is home to the California condor and giant kangaroo rat.