Any fair analysis of the package of housing bills emerging in Sacramento should start by acknowledging the victory in getting this far.
Specifically, it qualifies as big news that the package would produce new dollars for housing programs. Getting new dollars for anything is next to impossible in the legislature, where the thicket of California’s laws and constitution gobble up nearly every dollar. The new funding—in the form of feeds and a bond that must be approved by the legislature in a 2/3 vote—is especially remarkable given our very cheap governor’s previous opposition.
And the very fact that a significant package of bills has come forward shows that the stark on-the-ground reality – California’s gross scarcity of housing, and the huge costs that is imposing on our economy, environment, and families – has penetrated the alternative universe of the Capitol.
The bad news is: there’s very little housing in this housing package.
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