☆ Should SJ push back against draconian State regulations?
Mandated solar panel installations. Regional building quotas that are neither restrained nor reasonable. Gov’t experts Mark Moses and Susan Kirsch assert that cities like SJ can improve affordability—it just might require applying some pressure at the state level. An Opp Now exclusive in an ongoing roundup.
Mark Moses, government finance expert and author: First, SV cities should address housing affordability by ensuring that local building codes are no more restrictive than such codes imposed by the State. Where a city’s antiquated zoning ordinances throttle residential development, city leaders should phase out (i.e., sunset) such ordinances. Where such regulations are imposed by the State, California cities should lobby the State to rescind the draconian requirements (e.g., mandated solar panel installation) that impede the ability of developers to build affordable housing.
Secondly, SV cities should thoroughly examine what they do, why they do it, and how they do it. Cities rarely take inventory of what they have undertaken; they simply layer new activities over older ones. Their broad missions leave them with no means to delimit their scope. The resulting systemic scope creep manifests as intractable budget scarcity, which leads to serial tax increases and/or reduced service levels. Once a city has validated its scope, it should review service delivery methods. Most city job descriptions and work methods are anchored in the 20th century. Are SV cities, seated in the world’s technology center, prepared to take advantage of the day in which drone firefighters can replace frontline firefighters?
Susan Kirsch, Catalysts Institute for Local Control founder and director: When it comes to affordability, housing policy set at the state level is missing the mark. Local governments find it increasingly difficult to take action in support of affordability when state laws have tied their hands. Local governments can benefit from four ideas:
Resist unrealistic planning quotas such as the inflated RHNA (Regional Housing Need Allocations) mandates.
Prioritize policies to preserve existing middle-income housing with small-scale infill, adaptive reuse, and deed-restricted housing.
Promote home-ownership incentives for low-income wage-earners.
Prioritize constituents’ values of “home” and “neighborhood” over outside developer/investors’ drive for profits from “housing units.”
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