In the March report, auditors said “HCD does not ensure that its needs assessments are accurate and adequately supported.” That’s a big deal.
In other words, the housing department’s top-down mandates for the next eight-year housing element cycle are unreliable, likely invalid and should therefore be unenforceable. The foundation of the RHNA methodology is as unstable as building housing on sand.
In a recent online meeting hosted by the Housing Action Coalition, I heard Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, the new chair of the state Assembly Housing Committee, talking about California’s progressive housing policy. She said the housing shortage is 3.5 million units. But that calculation was dismissed by many when the Embarcadero Institute released a 2019 study showing the number was an overcalculation of about 1.5 million.
Here are five ideas how city, county and state officials should handle state housing mandates.
First, address the heart of the problem. Secure anti-speculation legislation to stop the “Blackstones” of the world. Instead of giving investors/developers the right to city planning and the right to take ownership of single-family homes and neighborhoods for their investment portfolio, demand legislation that gives safeguards.
A tragedy of our current time is the state’s reliance on mandates, quotas, and coercion to solve a human need for housing.
A Marin Voice Opinion by Susan Kirsch published in the Marin Independent Journal.
Elected officials Lydia Kou and Peggy Huang talk about the impact of misguided state legislation on cities. Whether in northern California or southern California, the overreach of regional and state laws is taking its toll on cities’ capacity to serve the constituents who elected them.
