Dick Spotswood: Proposed housing bills put critical spotlight on McGuire

By Dick Spotswood | spotswood@comcast.net | 

 

August 18, 2020 at 10:33 a.m.

There’s a developing consensus that most of coastal California suffers from a dire shortage of housing affordable to younger middle and working class families.

The effort to remedy the lack of what some call “affordable houses” for sale or rent is a top issue in Sacramento. Some proposals are based on the reality that racial and economic diversity is the bedrock of successful neighborhoods. Other proponents are driven by the greed of real estate developers, speculators and building trade unions. Often that combination produces unintended consequences.

Senate Bill 1120, authored by San Francisco state Sen. Scott Wiener and co-authored by North Bay Sen. Mike McGuire, is one of multiple legislative housing proposals winding their way through the Capitol. There are two principal elements to the bill.

The first requires jurisdictions to automatically permit duplex housing on single family lots if they meet loose criteria.

Duplexes contained within a larger structure or even detached accessory units are practical ways to lower home ownership costs and rents while promoting diversity. Granny units aren’t nearly as disruptive as the multi-storied apartment blocks housing activists demand.

Income from the second unit makes the property economically viable for the homeowner and the smaller rental unit is affordable for newcomers. The proposal should include rent-control for the new granny unit to prevent speculators from price gouging.

As is typical in Sacramento, the Wiener/McGuire bill goes too far.

SB 2011 effectively permits subdivision of any single home lot into two parcels. That land split will quadruple the density of California neighborhoods since once lots are split, each new parcel could sprout a duplex.

The legislation eliminates requirements for appropriate parking under the fallacious assumptions that if homes are built near bus stops, no resident will have a car and all will patronize transit no matter where it’s headed.

The legislation prohibits California Environmental Quality Act’s applicability to these new duplexes and lot splits ending local control except for mundane design issues. It’s typical of the Legislature’s “we know best” approach.

Wiener has intemperately called single-family homes and backyards “immoral.” That tells us Wiener holds California suburban homeowners in contempt. It’s disturbing that McGuire is partnering on legislation co-authored by a fellow Democrat who so disdains his Marin and Sonoma constituents.

As San Rafael City Council 4th District candidate Greg Knell says, “The thrust of making the middle class pay for the housing shortage and letting large employers walk on their responsibility is back in spades … eliminating local oversight is also back but buried in multiple legislation. We need workforce and senior housing but SB 1120 doesn’t seem to be the way.”