Livable California: ALERT! Call legislators now – Senate Housing Bills

ALERT! Please call legislators now! Four of the Seven Bad Bills of 2021 including SB 9 and SB 10 will be heard by the Assembly Housing Committee on June 22, 1:30 PM.

On Tuesday, four of the Seven Bad Bills of 2021, shown here on the agenda, will be voted on by the Assembly Housing Committee: SB 8, SB 9, SB 10 and SB 478.

Call in on Tuesday (here’s how to call in) to oppose these Four Bad Bills of 2021. We’ll send short alerts to you, so watch this space! Meanwhile, take ACTION right now!

Call Assembly Housing Committee members now. Ask them to Vote No on SB 8, SB 9, SB 10 and SB 478. Mention what you DO support, SB 15 by Anthony Portantino, a rare effort from luxury-housing obsessed Sacramento, to create actual affordable housing. SB 15 is in the Assembly, awaiting assignment to be heard by a committee.

Call the Assembly Housing Committee members now, here:

David Chiu (Chair)  (916) 319-2017

Kelly Seyarto (Vice Chair)  (916) 319-2067

Jesse Gabriel  (916) 319-2045

Ash Kalra  (916) 319-2027

Kevin Kiley  (916) 319-2006

Brian Maienschein  (916) 319-2077

Sharon Quirk-Silva  (916) 319-2065

Buffy Wicks  (916) 319-2015

While SB 8, to be heard on Tuesday, seeks to extend the sunset year of an existing law that we strongly oppose, the other three will slam California communities with dense new luxury housing and NO affordable units: They are SB 9, SB 10 and SB 478:

SB 9, the divisive anti-homeownership bill that ends single-family zoning to create dense luxury projects with NO affordable units. It lets investors buy any of California’s 7M single-family homes to build 6 units with no yards, no garages. On streets like yours.

Facing opposition by equity groups including L.A. Urban League and Housing is a Human Right, the authors say SB 9 won’t hurt renters because homes that were rented in recent years can’t be demolished. Who will find this elusive rental data? Developers? Nobody will find it.

SB 9 targets Black and Latino homeowner areas located too close to downtowns or freeways to survive SB 9, like these 36 homeowner communities of color in Greater L.A. Some SB 9 authors represent NO Black or Latino homeowner areas. Their bill will harm these communities of color.

SB 9 is a two-step bill with gaping loopholes. It allows 6 units where 1 home stands now. The authors insist the limit is 4 units. We agree with the respected Daniel Carrigg of Renne Public Policy Group, that 6 or even 8 units can slip between SB 9’s loopholes. SB 9 authors must be far more transparent.

Under SB 9, we expect pension funds and rental giants to bid against home buyers, with their new power to create 4 to 6 pricey rental units — with no homeowners in sight. This reckless developer bill destabilizes homeownership.

Watch a quick SB 9 Video HERE!

SB 10 is SB 9’s awful twin, allowing 14 luxury units almost everywhere. By Wiener.

SB 10 lets city councils approve sweeping ordinances giving developers “by right” powers to erect 14-unit luxury buildings on thousands of streets like yours.

In SB 10, “urban infill” means 14 luxury units can be built on any parcel, occupied or not, that isn’t surrounded by agriculture or industry, in cities or suburbs. “Urban infill” once meant abandoned lots in clear need of help.

Wiener’s claim that SB 10 allows 10 units? Untrue. By adding ADUs and Junior ADUs (granny flats), each luxury project can have 14 luxury units.

Under SB 10, any city council can undo any voter-approved initiative to protect open space, urban boundaries or any other voter land protection that stops developers from paving it over. Thus far, Livable has found 28 such voter approvals that could be overturned by city councils if SB 10 becomes law.

SB 478, the “One-Bedrooms You Can’t Afford” bill. By Wiener.

The same as SB 9 and SB 10 in that it creates ONLY luxury housing, SB 478 goes after existing duplex and apartment areas, destroying affordable housing to build small pricey singles for the techies. Not long ago, this was rightly condemned as “urban renewal.”

A developer can build 14 units — 10 plus 2 ADUs and 2 JADUs (granny flats) — on any multifamily or mixed-use street. Cities will be banned from requiring yards that prevent a density of “1.25 FAR.” (FAR or Floor Area Ratio, in real terms means a two-story, 6,250 sq. ft. apartment building can be built on a typical 5,000 sq. ft. lot. Or twice that on a 10,000 sq. ft. lot).

L.A.’s “small lot subdivision” law is a cautionary example. Los Angeles city leaders said these projects would lower housing prices. But L.A.’s small lot subdivision law instead spurs destruction of existing affordable housing to produce $1M to $2M condos — often separated by a few inches of air space. SB 478 is a cousin to L.A.’s badly backfiring non-affordability law.