Although far from the only factor, California Environmental Quality Act, as currently formed and implemented, has long been an obstacle to the development of essential housing in California.
California’s high housing costs are a simple supply and demand problem. Many people want to live here, but there are not enough accommodation to maintain the prices of online housing. Consequently, high high housing costs put people throughout the state.
Part of the problem was restrictive land use policies, with local courts prohibiting or considerably restoring housing in large areas of their communities.
Such constraints imposed by the government have contributed to strangling the market for the benefit of people who bought their house a long time ago and turn to themselves, while everyone has to face high prices.
Authorization processes and other examination processes are also part of the problem. Developers wishing to build must rely on bureaucratic approval to move forward with their projects.
But beyond these limitations, the developers who manage to find places to build and understand how to navigate in the license processes are confronted with another challenge: the conformity of the CEQA and the possibility always present that the CEQA will be abused by Nimbys, competitors, unions and others with an ax to die to launch a key to make in their projects.
It is one thing for the government to ensure that a project will not obviously avoid the environment and will produce all kinds of negative externalities. It is another for the government to create an expensive compliance system that can be abused even if a project is developed in good faith and in accordance with the law.
This brings us to Bill 609 of the Assembly by the assembly of Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland, which would exempt most of the developments in urban housing from the CEQA.
We have long argued that CEQA sculptures are lower than a complete reform, but large sculptures like this could give tangible advantages.
As the State Little Hoover Commission underlined it in a report, “California will never reach its housing objectives as long as CEQA has the potential to transform the development of housing into something that is similar to urban war – a block disputed by block, under construction.”
If we want to get more accommodation on the market and make California more affordable, we have to eliminate the government.
This proposal is a valid effort and, hopefully, will stimulate the debate much necessary for Sacramento.
California Daily Newspapers
