California's housing crisis has such an obvious cause that even many of the state's Democratic lawmakers now acknowledge it.
The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office in 2015 reported that "The state probably would have to build as many as 100,000 additional units annually - almost exclusively in its coastal communities - to seriously mitigate its problems with housing affordability." Instead of mitigating the problem, state policy has made it even worse in the ensuing years, thus pushing the median price in the entire San Francisco Bay Area to $860,000.
The measure is essentially a resurrection of the state's redevelopment agencies, which were shuttered in 2011 after then-Gov. Jerry Brown desperately needed money to close a gaping deficit.
Because the state backfilled tax dollars that these agencies diverted from public schools and other traditional public services, they had a large target on their back when California faced enormous budget deficits several years ago.
As the League of California Cities argued, "S.B. 5 would create a local-state partnership to fund state approved affordable housing, infrastructure, and economic development projects that also support state policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions expand transit oriented development, address poverty and revitalize neighborhoods." Because of the surplus, the League said "The time is right for the state to restore more robust financing mechanisms."
State officials still ignore the degree to which redevelopment policies helped create the current housing shortage by encouraging cities to base permit decisions on the amount of tax revenues that projects provided.
Across the state, agencies subsidized retail developers and penalized those who proposed housing developments.
https://spectator.org/crony-capitalism-on-steroids/
The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office in 2015 reported that "The state probably would have to build as many as 100,000 additional units annually - almost exclusively in its coastal communities - to seriously mitigate its problems with housing affordability." Instead of mitigating the problem, state policy has made it even worse in the ensuing years, thus pushing the median price in the entire San Francisco Bay Area to $860,000.
The measure is essentially a resurrection of the state's redevelopment agencies, which were shuttered in 2011 after then-Gov. Jerry Brown desperately needed money to close a gaping deficit.
Because the state backfilled tax dollars that these agencies diverted from public schools and other traditional public services, they had a large target on their back when California faced enormous budget deficits several years ago.
As the League of California Cities argued, "S.B. 5 would create a local-state partnership to fund state approved affordable housing, infrastructure, and economic development projects that also support state policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions expand transit oriented development, address poverty and revitalize neighborhoods." Because of the surplus, the League said "The time is right for the state to restore more robust financing mechanisms."
State officials still ignore the degree to which redevelopment policies helped create the current housing shortage by encouraging cities to base permit decisions on the amount of tax revenues that projects provided.
Across the state, agencies subsidized retail developers and penalized those who proposed housing developments.
https://spectator.org/crony-capitalism-on-steroids/
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