California's Piecemeal Progress on Housing Production

Following the close of the 2019 state legislative session, the Westside Urban Forum (WUF) convened for a conversation on California’s housing affordability crisis and state legislative efforts to increase housing production. Moderated by TPR’s own David Abel, Assemblymember Richard Bloom and Tara Barauskas, executive director of the Community Corporation of Santa Monica, dive into the barriers to building affordable housing and whether recent legislation streamlining local planning, zoning, and permitting processes—either incrementally or by "sledgehammer"—has resulted in increased affordability of the region’s new and existing housing supply. Asm. Bloom argues, 

"Increasing market rate housing does not provide the kind of affordable housing that we need, at the lowest end of the spectrum. We need to fund that and find ways to lower costs."

Read the full panel discussion at The Planning Report.