Why Equity Groups Opposed California Legislation to Increase Housing Production

The adversarial role played by social justice and other equity advocacy groups helped contribute to the early defeat of Senate Bill 827 on April 17, a bill which would have aggressively tackled California's housing shortage by allowing multifamily housing by rail and ferry stations and frequent bus stops, while relaxing height, density, and parking restrictions.

In this post-mortem on the bill, Liam Dillon, who covers California state politics and policy for the Los Angeles Times, explains how Sen. Scott Wiener's bill not only lost the support of those who arguably stood the most to gain from it, but became among the bill's staunchest opponents. [See April 24 post-mortem on SB 827 by Dillon and CALmatters’ Matt Levin.]

The bill's sponsor, California YIMBY, as well as 22 academicians in the urban planning field from California universities (see March 19 letter [pdf]), saw the bill as a legitimate means to tackle the state's housing crisis by increasing housing production, often stymied at the local level by restrictive zoning codes.

Research from the state's nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office and UC Berkeley [pdf] has found that building any new housing, especially homes subsidized for low-income residents, prevents displacement at a regional level. But the data are less clear on the effects of construction in individual neighborhoods, sparking concerns that relaxed zoning rules could cause development that would price out residents in poor communities.

Equity advocates, including social justice, affordable housing, and tenants' rights groups, saw the bill differently, "and instead worr[ied] that developers would build housing catering only to wealthier, white residents, leading to higher prices that would force out those living in poorer communities now," writes Dillon on May 2. 

This divide was one of the primary reasons for the failure last month of Senate Bill 827, which would have allowed for the construction of four- or five-story apartment and condominium buildings within half a mile of transit stops.

Activists for low-income residents and communities of color said that they were blindsided by state Sen. Scott Wiener's proposal and that subsequent efforts [see descriptions of March 1 and April 9 amendments] by the senator to protect against potential displacement and gentrification were inadequate. 

One of California YIMBY's first shows of support for SB 827 was a letter from more than 120 tech company executives, who are some of its biggest funders and often serve as lightning rods in the state's gentrification debates.

 Tech executives said the state’s housing crisis makes it hard to recruit and retain employees and is pushing tech firms to relocate out of the state.