Thanks Exedra for providing links to the CalMatters voter guide (Voter Guide) and housing report (Housing). They should be read side by side.
I found the Prop. 33 rent control initiative very interesting. Proponents: AIDS Healthcare Foundation, California Democratic Party, and Veterans’ Voices. Opponents: California Republican Party, California YIMBY and Assembly member Buffy Wicks (D), Piedmont’s state representative. Strange bedfellows, as they say.
Opponents claim that rent control will stifle new housing starts, especially in cities that deceptively set rent so low that developers won’t build new housing. But is that true? If Prop. 33 passes, won’t the HCD RHNA allocations still happen, forcing cities to work with affordable housing advocates rather than face the “builders remedy”. Won’t ministerial ADU and SB9 laws still be in effect? Why can’t the Legislature fix Costa-Hawkins and apply its restrictions to housing built before 2020, thereby freeing up new development from rent control?
Prop. 33 has another benefit: it leads to affordable housing without the CO2 emissions. Piedmont’s new 567 units called for in the Housing Element are projected to increase the city’s GHG emission by 22%. Apply that to the state as a whole, and that’s a big step backward from achieving net zero by 2045.
The housing report shows that unprecedented action is required to solve California’s housing crisis. The same could be said about its climate crisis. Prop. 33 seems to offer solutions for both.
I would agree that the 1995 Costa Hawkins cutoff date should be advanced, but that’s not what Prop 33 is about. It would kill new apt projects in cities with rent control. Developers and those who finance big apt projects have choices.
Prop 33 is about restoring local control over rent control that Costa Hawkins gutted. Strikes me as just another tool local government can use to improve the housing situation for Californians, over half of which rent according to CalMatters. Progressive cities can use it to help low-income residents while the new housing battle wages on. The needed housing target seems decades away.
Prop 33 is about rent control not public housing. HCD doesn’t build housing but if cities don’t get HCD approval, developers will. I suggested imposing rent control on buildings built BEFORE 2020 so I don’t see how that affects new developments. Dont know the BMR history but look at the new housing graph in the CalMatters report – new starts will never meet the need. Maybe lower rent can help. Not as glamorous and profitable for the interests opposing 33 though.
I would have to disagree with Garrett on this one. The vast majority of all housing is built by the private sector, not by cities. The RHNA/HCD process does not force developers to build anything. If rent control for new construction is in place in one city, developers will logically avoid building in that city. The ending of Redevelopment Agencies by Jerry Brown took away a major source of funding for BMR projects.