California’s urban areas must become more densely populated to provide enough affordable housing for 40 million-plus people, columnist George Skelton writes.
signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom don’t amount to much because they were so watered down by compromising legislators. Don’t believe it.
But living space has greatly tightened, and housing has become impossibly pricey for too many middle-class families and young couples who are being priced out of California. The median price of a single-family California home in August was about $828,000, compared with the national median of roughly $360,000 in July. In Los Angeles, it was $825,000 in July — in the San Francisco Bay Area, $1.3 million.
“I ask people who are opposed to these bills: ‘What about how the status quo is working now? What about our affordability crisis, soaring home prices, homeless crisis? Is that OK with you?’” says Jason Elliott, a Newsom senior advisor. SB 9, dubbed the “duplex bill,” would offer homeowners new options to build additional housing on their lots, regardless of whether they’re currently zoned for single-family only. They could add a granny flat, convert the house into a duplex or erect a triplex or fourplex.
The battle also was unique for another reason. It was less about partisanship than geography — where a lawmaker lived mattered more than party.A lot of homeowners and some wannabe homeowners priced out of the market followed the old textbook advice to “write and call your legislator.”
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