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.