California Housing Bill Would Change Residents' Role in Land Development

California State Senator Scott Wiener has proposed a new bill, SB 827, that would compel cities to allow dense, mid-rise housing within walking distance of most transit. Affected areas would include Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Oakland.

The control local current, and potential residents can exert over the land development process is being cited as a major reason stalling new construction in the state. CityLab reports that SB 827 would "constrain the choices cities can make with respect to specific aspects of local land use that transcend municipal boundaries. Instead of considering only how it affects the current local residents of a city, land use policy will be pursued in light of its consequences for everyone in the region." The site adds that if the bill passes, "it would be the most important step in decades towards upping the state’s housing supply in substantial numbers."

Starting in 1970, land use in California started changing in three ways. First, both natural geographic barriers and an emergent environmental movement caused Coastal California’s large metro areas to slow their sprawl. Second, California’s cities gradually but pervasively imposed land use restrictions like single-family zoning, height limits, and minimum lot sizes, that made it all but impossible to raise the density of developed residential areas. Finally ... it had become standard to require community participation in the planning process, an exclusive channel for local residents to exert influence over land use decisions.

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