Once again, in 2021 the California Legislature considered a host of housing bills, ostensibly for the purpose of increasing affordable housing but without providing any subsidies to actually enable the development of affordable housing. Although some bills might have been worthwhile, many were simply destructive of existing communities, the environment and our quality of life, while providing gifts to developers. For latest updates on the pending bills, go the Livable California website, https://www.livablecalifornia.org/california-state-legislation-bills-2021-livable-california/

The two worst bills for single-family neighborhoods were SB 9 (Senator Atkins) and SB 10 (Senator Wiener), which effectively eliminate single-family neighborhoods as a housing option throughout the state of California—every neighborhood would become multifamily. Neither bill required that new units be affordable.

Both these bad bills were approved by the Democratic-controlled legislature, and signed into law by Democratic Governor Newsom on September 16, 2021, a mere two days after he survived the recall.

The mayor of Redondo Beach had spearheaded a ballot initiative to amend the California Constitution to clarify that, with limited exceptions, zoning and land use are local issues outside the jurisdiction of the state – which, if passed, would supersede these bills. It’s called the “Our Neighborhood Voices” initiative. As of December 2021, a petition was circulating in order to get enough signatures to get this initiative on the ballot in 2022. For more info, go to https://ourneighborhoodvoices.com/  February 18, 2022 update – this ballot initiative has been withdrawn, and Our Neighborhood Voices will refile to qualify for the 2024 ballot, https://ourneighborhoodvoices.com/our-neighborhood-voices-now-focusing-on-2024-ballot/

We can all agree that the state needs more affordable housing, and there are viable alternatives which do not require destruction of single-family neighborhoods. For three very short video illustrations of the impact these bills will have: https://youtu.be/0kORq9ELc9c from the South Bay Cities Council of Governments, showing the impacts on single-family neighborhoods, including neighborhoods of color;  https://youtu.be/fr-PikSHzXg (from a Leimert Park neighbor on behalf of her and other historic Black single-family neighborhoods; and https://youtu.be/YpBmRgTFAbo, a general presentation and suggested alternatives.

You can download a one-page flyer “NO! on SB9 & SB 10” that lists in bullet points the key issues with both these bills. In addition, during hearings one of SB 9’s sponsors made several representations about the provisions of that bill that are not supported by the language; download an “SB 9: True or False” flyer.

You can also see more details on the impact of these bills in this pdf presentation from United Neighbors. Senator Bob Hertzberg (San Fernando Valley) gave a solid defense of single-family neighborhoods in explaining his opposition to SB 10, which you can watch here. An op-ed in the Los Angeles Times from South Bay mayors/councilmembers and 120 local elected officials from 48 cities statewide says “NO on SB 9.”  An article in the Torrance Daily Breeze says SB 9 and SB 10 “marches us toward a future where single-family zoning no longer exists.” An interesting study of housing preferences published in the Berkeley Daily Planet found that the vast majority of people of every race or ethnicity preferred to live in a single-family home.

As an example, these two sketches illustrate what a single-family neighborhood such as Westwood Hills can become under SB 9 and SB 10 — at the whim of developers, with NO control by local governments,  NO requirement for affordable units, NO requirement to upgrade water, power, sewer and other infrastructure, provide off-street parking, etc.:

The Los Angeles City Council voted overwhelmingly to oppose both SB 9 and SB 10. However, Mayor Garcetti refused to approve that motion. The WHPOA board also voted to oppose both SB 9 and SB 10, and filed opposition on both.  WHPOA’s opposition letter for SB 9 can be viewed here  and for SB 10 here.

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More info on each bill, including the text of the bill, can be found at https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB9 (for SB 9) and at https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB10 (for SB 10).

For a summary of the nine worst bills of last year’s 2020 legislative session, seven of which were defeated by enormous citizen effort led by Livable California, click here.