A commercial building lies empty on September 19 in Citrus Heights, California, northeast of Sacramento. Two new laws in California will allow developers to bypass local governments to build homes on commercial land.
Rich Pedroncelli / AP
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Rich Pedroncelli / AP
A commercial building lies empty on September 19 in Citrus Heights, California, northeast of Sacramento. Two new laws in California will allow developers to bypass local governments to build homes on commercial land.
Rich Pedroncelli / AP
SACRAMENTO, California – They’ve become a familiar sight along America’s vast commercial corridors – empty buildings once filled by major retailers that have closed, in part because of many customers their online shopping.
Now, two new laws in California will allow developers to build homes on that land and largely prevent revenue-hungry local governments from stopping them.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed two bills Wednesday that will open up much of the state’s commercial land to residential development. It’s a long-awaited victory for affordable housing advocates, who say such locations are ready for apartments because they are often near densely populated areas and have parking. spacious car.
“This is a moment on California’s original sin journey, and it’s a matter of housing and affordability,” Newsom said in San Francisco. “We all need to be a little more accountable to this affordability crisis.”
Local government officials say the law undermines their authority and takes years of careful planning to reflect community preferences. But there’s also a financial consequence, they say, because shops generate more property taxes for local governments than homes.
“It is a concern that state law will supersede local decisions, especially when local decisions This is introduced in a public process with the community as part of a larger housing plan. California city.
California, the nation’s most populous state with just over 39 million residents, housing shortages have sent home prices soaring and contributed to the homelessness crisis. State officials say California needs to build about 310,000 new housing units each year over the next eight years, more than two and a half times the amount the state typically builds each year.
Lawmakers in the Democratic-controlled state Legislature introduce dozens of bills each year to try to increase housing output, but many of their boldest ideas often fail when faced with opposition. local government, labor unions and neighborhood groups.
A popular idea in recent years is to ignore local laws about where housing can be built. Housing advocates complain that local governments are often content to leave commercial buildings vacant for years – sometimes decades – in the hope of an alternative that will generate more real estate taxes. more real estate, instead of changing the law to allow housing there.
Previous attempts to do so have failed to pass the Legislature, but this year, lawmakers passed two bills, both of which were signed by Newsom on Wednesday.
Governor Gavin Newsom, center, stood with state and local officials Wednesday at 4200 Geary Blvd., an affordable luxury housing development in San Francisco.
Santiago Mejia / AP
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Santiago Mejia / AP
Governor Gavin Newsom, center, stood with state and local officials Wednesday at 4200 Geary Blvd., an affordable luxury housing development in San Francisco.
Santiago Mejia / AP
A law would allow developers to build homes on certain commercial lots without needing to get permission from local authorities, as long as a certain percentage of the housing is affordable. Another law would allow developers to build all market-priced housing on some commercial land – which would be more lucrative – but projects would still have to go through an environmental review process.
“The stores are gone forever, Sears, Toys R Us, JC Penneys, Kmarts – they’re closing,” said Democratic Senator Anna Caballero, the author of one of the bills. “Nothing is going to happen here commercially, and so the ability to really convert assets and do it quickly… is priceless.”
When running for governor in 2017, Newsom pledged to develop 3.5 million new housing units by 2025 — a number the state likely won’t be able to meet. Newsom said Wednesday that he is now projecting to buy 2.5 million new housing units by 2030, saying his initial figure “has always been a stretch target” that “in the the process of trying to achieve it will allow us to see what’s possible.”
“We plan to continue to have bold goals because Californians deserve them,” Newsom said.
The new laws reflect a compromise between labor unions and housing developers. Several labor unions, including the California State Building and Construction Trade Council, have insisted that the law should require a “skilled and trained” workforce to build housing. That means a certain percentage of workers will participate in a state-approved apprenticeship program.
But housing developers say there aren’t enough workers to meet that standard, which will make some projects difficult to complete.
The solution is to give builders a choice. The measure requires affordable housing that does not require a skilled and trained workforce, while the measure that does not require affordable housing requires a highly skilled workforce .
Senate Democratic Leader Mike McGuire said: “Doing anything that’s huge or has consequences in the Legislature isn’t easy. And it can be messy. But at the end of the day, all parties are involved. worked together”.
