Housing advocates are taking matters into their own hands to make sure the Bay Area plans for enough new homes to comply with state law and ease its intensifying housing crisis.
Housing advocates tired of the Bay Area’s foot-dragging efforts to plan for more homes amid an intensifying housing crisis are taking matters to the courts.
The goal of the dozen lawsuits? To force local governments to adopt housing plans — dubbed “housing elements” — that actually meet the state’s strict planning requirements. And to ensure jurisdictions are subject to penalties — including losing control over local laws governing development — until they do.
As of Tuesday afternoon, just 29 of the region’s 109 cities and counties had adopted the every-eight-year plans, according to the California Department of Housing and Community Development. And just four of those plans — from San Francisco, Emeryville, San Leandro and the city of Alameda — had been deemed in compliance by the state.
Geoff Gillette, a spokesperson for Pleasant Hill in suburban Contra Costa County, said the city had yet to be served with the civil lawsuit. He refuted the notion that Pleasant Hill isn’t making enough progress on its housing element, despite only submitting its initial draft last week. “These are things we weren’t going to shortcut on or rush through to meet the deadline,” Gillette said.By 2031, the nine-county Bay Area is on the hook for approving more than 441,000 single-family homes, apartments, townhomes and condos for people of all income levels. That’s double the goal for the past eight years, representing a roughly 15% increase in the region’s total housing stock, in large part to make up for decades of failing to hit state homebuilding targets.
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