Design and Architecture
The density bill is dead. What's next for housing?
A controversial bill that would have led to more high-density housing in California died in a legislative committee this week. Why did SB 827 fail, and what’s next in the fight to build new housing?
By Frances Anderton • • 4m ListenSenator Scott Wiener’s bill, SB 827, would have allowed developers to build four- to five-story condos and apartment buildings near frequent public transit. The contentious bill died in its first committee hearing.
State vs local control (neither neighborhood groups nor the politicians they elect want to give up their zoning authority)
NIMBY vs YIMBY (yes in my backyard) vs what CityLab calls "a loose alliance of socialist activists and tenants’ rights and affordable housing boosters" called PHIMBYs (public housing in my backyard)
Single family owners vs multifamily renters
Public transit vs cars and parking (the bill wanted upzoning close to transit stops, which is where the density should be)
Developers vs community activists
Older vs younger Californians "The road to hell is paved with good intentions," said Michael Storper, a geographer and professor at UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs.
"We need to much more finely tune the instruments that we use to get the right kind of housing and in the right places and that means particularly better geographical targeting of these measures and much more attention to affordability and inclusiveness."
Senator Scott Wiener's bill, SB 827, would have put more housing near mass transit. Photo credit: Saul Gonzalez.
