Page One

(This is part two in a three-part series. Part one was published last week:

http://berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2016-06-10/article/44576?headline=Sacramento-Poised-to-End-Rent-Control-and-Neighborhood-Preservation-in-Berkeley-and-Elsewhere--Thomas-Lord )

Governor Jerry Brown and the state legislature are nearing a deal that would eliminate local discretion to review and challenge certain housing development projects. Under the proposed legislation, multi-unit housing projects will win automatic ("by-right") approval if they include a minimum number of affordable units and conform to the objective requirements of local zoning law.

The new bill will, in essence, suspend the review requirements of Berkeley's Neighborhood Preservation Ordinance and will also allow the by-right demolition of rent controlled units.

This weekend, Ben Metcalf, the Director of the Governor's Housing and Community Development department took some time to help the Daily Planet better understand the motivation, intent, and impacts of the Governor's bill. 

Coastal metropolitan regions targeted 

Over a period of 30 years, housing growth lagged the national average by 30%, said Metcalf, referring to the rates in California coastal metropolitan areas. 

From 1980 to 2010, according to a recent report from the Legislative Analyst's office, the rate of housing growth among inland cities in California greatly outpaced the national average, while coastal cities grew more slowly than the average. 

Streamlined approval is an attempt to combat that trend, accelerating housing development in the Bay Area and other urban, coastal regions. 

Why is that desirable, we asked? 

Pushing for more tech growth 

A key goal, reported Metcalf, is to meet regional housing needs estimated by projecting current rates of job formation. 

After a long period of regional job decline, job growth in the Bay Area has significantly outpaced most of the nation since 2007. Tech industries have been the driver. 

Approximately 1/3 of the new jobs in the region are directly in the tech sector. Estimates vary but multiple sources agree that more than half of the growth in Bay Area jobs can be directly or indirectly attributed to tech industry hiring. 

Regional job numbers have only recently equaled, and slightly exceeded, their previous record highs from the late 1990s and early 2000s. 

Governor Brown's administration sees sluggish housing construction as a threat to future job growth. To prioritize economic growth, the Governor's proposal aims to reduce municipal discretionary review of housing projects. 

Concentrating a tech workforce 

We asked if, instead of imposing streamlining on coastal cities, the state could create incentives to build satellite offices for the tech industry in inland cities. Land inland is less scarce. Rates of housing construction there have long outpaced the national average. Growing numbers of tech commuters already live inland. 

"They tried some of that in the 1980s," explained Metcalf. Tech firms today are more interested in attracting a large pool of workers to one compact region -- the Bay Area. 

An emphasis on market rate housing 

The streamlining bill creates by-right approval only for projects that include a small number of "affordable units". These are units that will be rented or sold at below market rates for a period of 30 years. 

The majority of units allowed under the streamlining process would likely be market rate units. 

Metcalf explained that "Currently only 3% of [new units] are affordable." 

He hastened to point out that subsidized housing was unlikely to make a dent in the affordability crisis. "There are 1.5 million households in California paying half their income in rent," he lamented. To build enough subsidized housing for just those existing households would require more than one trillion dollars. 

Market rate construction is the only realistic way to add housing, Metcalf argued. 

Reduced affordability requirements near transit 

We asked Metcalf about the bill's provision that would impose a lower requirement for affordable units near transit, and a higher requirement farther away from transit. Isn't that backwards, we wondered? 

Metcalf said the motivation was to encourage production near transit. "If you want density," he said, "market rate is the only way." 

Equity left up to cities 

Lastly, we asked Metcalf a question about equity. Looking at a zoning map of Berkeley, for example, the lower-income and more racially diverse neighborhoods near Ashby BART station are zoned in a way that makes them likely targets of the Governor's streamlined approval process. In contrast, much of the higher income, whiter neighborhoods near North Berkeley BART station, zoned only for single family homes, would be immune to streamlined approvals. 

Metcalf offered that it is up to planners to decide what kind of growth the community wants and then reduce it to an objective standard. 

"It's up to local leadership."