Wealthy Bay Area Communities Fight Housing Targets

As Louis Hansen reports, "[m]ore than one-quarter of Bay Area municipalities are rising in a crescendo of complaints against proposed state guidelines for housing development that could reshape the region’s downtowns and neighborhoods," citing concerns including a lack of jobs and inadequate infrastructure like roads, sewers, and transit. "[C]omplaints largely argue that higher development targets are unrealistic and based on faulty assumptions, methods and overlooked data."

In the most recent Regional Housing Needs Allocation process, "[t]he region’s overall goal more than doubled to 441,000 new homes and apartments for the next 8-year cycle beginning in 2023," with "tougher penalties for cities missing their targets."

"The appeals, disputes, fights and policy skirmishes could play a large role in how and where Bay Area cities develop new homes and apartments during the next decade. Amid record-high home prices and rents, economists and planners are urging more development or the region will risk stifling its innovative and booming economy." According to " pro-housing group California YIMBY, "11 of the 18 cities with the highest median household incomes in the region are protesting their housing allotment." The current appeals "could be a preview of which cities plan for dense, new neighborhoods and apartment towers, and which will dig in for long, costly legal battles to protect the status quo."