Posted on 09/06/2016 10:10:05 AM PDT by Lorianne
It was the boldest California housing policy proposal in years: Allow any residential project that complies with local zoning and sets aside as few as five percent of its units as affordable to be built “as of right,” removing review from local municipalities. The idea was to fast-track approvals and reduce the cost of building as the state struggles with a crushing housing crisis. But after three months of debate and widespread opposition, the proposal by Gov. Jerry Brown, meant to boost the state’s housing production in the face of record-high housing prices, appears to be dead. … Dozens of community groups, environmentalists and the League of California Cities – and even some tenant groups – opposed the measure. One of the most powerful opponents of the bill was a sector that could directly benefit from more development: construction labor unions.
"The death blow was dealt by the construction trades," said Matt Regan, senior vice president of public policy at the Bay Area Council, the region's largest business group, which supported the proposal. With such strong opposition, no state senators or assembly members publicly supported the measure.
Opponents argued that the proposal would remove community input for projects and enrich developers without adding enough affordable housing or protecting the environment. The State Building & Construction Trades Council of California and other unions wrote in a May letter that the policy change would be a "disaster for the environment, the public and the future residents of these developments."
Construction unions sought a major modification in the proposal: requiring projects that benefitted to ensure minimal construction salary thresholds equivalent to union wages through prevailing wage agreements. Ben Metcalf, director of the state's Housing and Community Development, told the Los Angeles Times that requiring prevailing wage would discourage some developers from using the program. Requiring higher wages would remove the financial advantages of using the program in some cases, he said.
SNIP
That’s what unions do.
There’s only a housing “crisis” for the servants on the coastal cities. There’s plenty of housing in Dinuba, Selma, and Madera. BUT, liberals don’t even know anything exists on the other side of the Coastal Range.
Good.
“Oh, you’ve got a decent middle class community here with low crime? Well let’s see how well it does after I drop a 4 story apartment complex where 10% of the units are Section 8 poverty cases.”
And, on top of the low-income people, the prices of existing housing will take a hit.
Far worse are the effects of Governor Brown’s utter, and proven, inability to think.
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