California's $400 Million for By-Right Affordable Housing Dies in the Legislature

An affordable housing proposal proposed by Gov. Jerry Brown failed to marshal the necessary support in the State Legislature, facing opposition from a coalition of labor and environmental groups, as well as the League of California Cities.

1 minute read

August 24, 2016, 12:00 PM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


Fringe Development

Patricia Marroquin / Shutterstock

"The forces in California invested in preventing solutions to the housing crisis still have the upper hand," according to an article by Rob Poole.

Poole's commentary follows the scoop reported by Jim Miller and Anshu Siripurapu: an affordable housing package proposed by Governor Jerry Brown was dead for the year. According to that article, "Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon said Thursday, saying there continues to be intense opposition to Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposal to relax local land-use rules in return for $400 million for housing projects." Planetizen blogger Reuben Duarte provided a detailed analysis of Gov. Brown's policy proposal back in May 2016.

According to Poole's analysis, "[t]he failure of Governor Brown’s proposal is deeply disappointing to urbanists, as major policy change is necessary to address California’s worsening housing crisis, income inequality and economic segregation." 

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