California's legislature started 2021 with over 100 housing bills. About half are still active. The rest may return next year, or in rare cases, later this year as a gut-and-amend of an unrelated bill. Details in thread & at alfredtwu.medium.com/2021-californi… PDF at dropbox.com/s/zdhhg3qf495c…
Wildfires and earthquake preparedness: the direction we're going in is hardening existing buildings, and tougher codes for new buildings. SB12, SB63, and AB1329 are still active.
Zoning: Housing in commercial zones (#SB6, #SB15), lot splits (#SB9, #AB803), small bldgs w/ up to 10 homes (#SB10, #SB478) are the main production bills left. Also: removing parking requirements near transit - @laurafriedman43's #AB1401
The number of accessory dwelling units (backyard cottages) being built in California continues to go up. Two 2021 bills will help #ADU production: #AB345 to allow nonprofits (such as Habitat for Humanity) to sell ADU's separately from the main house, and #AB561, a loan fund
There's one housing bill that's already signed into law - #SB7, which speeds up the approval process for projects using skilled and trained workers (typically this means union labor)
Other bills about project approvals: #SB8, which extends the 2019 SB330, as well as SB37, which limits permit streamlining at contaminated sites.
Two bills remain on limiting development fees: #AB571 to exempt low-income units included in a mixed-income building from having to pay affordable housing fees. #AB602 would require fees to be based on square feet in a bldg rather than number of units.
3 bills remain on the General Plan updates that cities do every several years. #AB215 to make sure cities make steady progress towards housing goals rather than wait until the end of the cycle, #AB1304 to Affirmatively Further Fair Housing (reduce segregation), and... 1/
...#AB1322, which would allow cities to rezone land for apartments to meet state-required housing goals, even if the local charter bans it. useful for places like city of Alameda where voters banned apartments. 2/
Most of the anti discrimination bills, #SB263 (implicit bias training), #AB938 (ban on appraisal discrimination), and #AB1466 (removing discrimatory language on deeds) continue to move forwards.
.@Scott_Wiener's youth housing bill #SB234 was added to the Governor's May budget proposal. This funds homes for transition age youth between ages 16 and 26 aging out of foster care, who are homeless, etc. sd11.senate.ca.gov/news/20210517-…
#SB591, an inter-generational housing bill to allow some caregivers and youth to live in senior housing is also moving forwards.
Tenant protection bills still active: #SB60 (bigger fines for illegal airbnbs), #AB838 (require cities to investigate lead & substandard bldg complaints), #AB978 mobile home rent cap (now amended to inflation+3%, or 5%, whichever is less), and #AB1487 (legal assistance)
Three bills directly about homelessness: #SB344 to fund facilities, food, etc for pets. #AB362 to increase shelter health and safety standards. #AB816, a plan to reduce homelessness by 90% by 2029.
School employee housing bill #AB306 continues to move forward, it would allow housing for school employees to go through the regular building permit process instead of the more complex one required for classrooms.
Lots of student housing bills still alive: #SB290 density bonus, #SB330 to allow community colleges to lease land to others who want to build low income student housing, #AB777 transfers state land to UC Davis, and #AB1377, a loan fund.
Affordable housing bills still active: #AB482 middle income housing pilot program, #AB491 to ban "poor doors", #SB649 to encourage prioritizing local residents, #AB721 to make it possible to build affordable housing in HOA communities... 1/
... #SB728 to allow nonprofits to buy the low-income units in a mixed-income condo building, and #AB1043 creating a new category of lower rents for Acutely Low Income residents who make less than 15% of the area median income. (In the Bay Area, that'd be around $15,000 a year)
A few bills to preserve existing cheap housing: #AB634 to allow cities to require privately developed low-income housing to stay cheap for more than 55 years, #AB787 to convert existing private buildings to nonprofit housing, #AB1029 to preserve affordability at existing bldgs
Most of the tax proposals didn't make it, the one remaining one is #AB464 to allow Enhanced Infrastructure Financing Districts to fund housing. EIFD's capture increased taxes from a growing neighborhood to spend it in the same area.
Rural housing: #AB687 would create a housing agency in western Riverside County
Data collection: #AB27 to collect data on K-12 student homelessness, #SB477 to collect housing production data. The rental registry bill failed to move forward again this year, despite being weakened even further.
Public land: The reusing of former Caltrans land from cancelled freeways such as I-710 in South Pasadena area for housing continues with #AB512 and #AB950
Electrification: two bills left still active: #SB68, and #AB965 (which is about electric car charging)
wrote a picture book on California housing - "Rhena the House Makes New Friends" read it in the thread or at the link! sites.google.com/view/alfredtwu… 1/
For those who believe that our best days are still to come...
...and that wherever the country is headed,
California will get there first. 2/
Enjoying the warm summer weather and the beautiful hills without eucalyptus trees. #euclife
Walnut Creek has been building lots of housing around the BART station in the last few years. Quite a variety of styles.
There's also a new extended-stay hotel near the Walnut Creek BART. More cities ought to build these, it would reduce the number of regular apartments being turned into corporate rentals. (Berkeley has one under construction downtown right now)
you laugh, but China basically borrowed California's flawed property tax system and dialed it up to 11 - taxes are based on original purchase price, homeowners pay nothing at all. Trying to change it is now a major headache for the government. researchgate.net/publication/32…
Commercial property gets taxed at "1.2% of 70-90% of original value" which is almost the same as California property tax of 1% of purchase price. Private residential houses aren't taxed at all. what could go wrong? researchgate.net/publication/32…
Without property taxes, China relies on leasing vacant land for development to fund local government. This system stops working when cities stop growing. The government has been trying to shift to a regular property tax system for over a decade. chinadaily.com.cn/a/202102/01/WS…
It’s time to go all in on growth. We got to build lots of wind & solar, etc. When we get to 100% clean energy, will we shut down what will then be the country’s largest industry, or will we keep building and grow incomes & the economy 7.5% a year to 4 times its current size? 1/
Renewable energy is different from fossil fuels in that most of the work is done up front. While a constant sized fossil fuel workforce equals constant (or shrinking) energy production, a constant sized renewable workforce equals continuous energy growth. 2/
Installation of new wind & solar has been growing exponentially. To replace oil/coal/gas fast enough, it needs to be. When that’s done, we’re not going to lay off millions of people mid-career - we’re going to keep going. 🚀🌕 3/
Today in vaccine eligibility expansion: Alabama announces April 5 as the day when everyone 16 and up can sign up for vaccines. Additional counties opening up in Hawaii as well. 1/
With the state expecting a 50% increase in doses delivered, Alabama - which had already opened eligibility to more than half the state - set Monday as the day the rest are eligible. wsfa.com/2021/04/02/ala…
Another one of Hawaii's islands will also start vaccinating everyone 16 and up on April 5. khon2.com/coronavirus/bi…
More states moving up the day when vaccines are available to everyone 16 & up: Wyoming did it yesterday, Maine moved up to 4/7, Washington announced 4/15 and Virginia 4/18. Thread 1/