A bill to compel California cities to allow more construction of higher-density housing near transit hubs and job centers cleared its first legislative hurdle on Tuesday.
Senate Bill 50 would override local zoning rules and give developers the green light to build four- or five-story apartment buildings near bus, rail and ferry stops in an attempt to spur housing construction.
The bill's higher-density rules would also apply in "jobs-rich" areas, a designation yet to be fully defined in the legislation.
"We have to move past the paralysis on housing and change how we do things," said state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, the bill's author, moments before it passed the Senate Housing Committee by a vote of 9-1.
For legislation as controversial as SB 50, this first step was significant: Last year, a similar bill, SB 827, also authored by Wiener, was voted down in its initial hearing.
SB 50 would also ease local rules requiring developers to provide parking for each unit, in an effort to remove yet another barrier to construction.
Wiener described his legislation, a response to California's severe housing shortage, as "changing the way we've done zoning in California for 170 years."
Last year, that challenge to the historical precedent rallied a broad group of opponents, led by homeowners and city council members opposed to giving up local control, as well as low-income residents who argued that building up would spike land values and lead to gentrification.
This time around, the legislation requires that affordable housing be included in larger developments. It also exempts areas at risk of gentrification (like East San Jose, East Oakland and San Francisco's Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood) from the bill's requirements for five years, and allows those communities to design their own plans to boost density.
Many of the groups representing low-income residents did not oppose the current bill, instead taking no position and signing letters to the committee "expressing concern."
