A new poll out this week shows 43% of Californians believe they cannot afford to live in the state. This held true across multiple demographics, underscoring the severity of the affordable housing crisis, Sacramento’s NBC affiliate KCRA reported. KCRA talked withCHC’s Marina Wiant, who made it clear: “We need communities to be open to letting people of all income levels live and work in their communities.”

The Administration is continuing its efforts to hold jurisdictions accountable for anti-growth measures, sending a letter this week to the city of Encinitas. The letter directed the city to “amend or invalidate” a law that requires a public vote every time a developer proposes changing zoning or increasing density, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Another law that state leaders are looking to change: Article 34 of the state Constitution that requires voter approval before public housing is built in a community. The Los Angeles Times looks at how this article can be an obstacle for housing dedicated to low-income families, and Sen. Ben Allen reviving efforts to repeal it.

HOUSING CRISIS

Poll: 43% of Californians can’t afford to live in Golden State
KCRA (NBC) News at 6pm
Buying a home is a big part of the American dream, but for many Californians that dream is becoming unobtainable. A new survey released by Quinnipiac University Polling Institute reveals that 43 percent of Californians believe they cannot afford to live in the Golden State. For people between the ages 18 and 34, the numbers are even more revealing, with 61 percent indicating California is not affordable for them. As a case in point, Jared and Sarah Barcea are a single-income family struggling to buy a new home, but for now they are living with relatives in Carmichael.

California Today: Is California Affordable? Here’s Who Says Yes
New York Times
Do you feel like you can afford to live in California? If you said no to that question, you’d be in good company: 43 percent of Californians would agree with you. The one part of the state where they’d be less likely to feel the crunch? The Bay Area — land of some of the nation’s most crushing housing and child care costs — where 65 percent of registered voters said, yes, they feel as if they can afford to live here.

Bay Area housing prices push low-income minorities farther out, study finds
San Francisco Chronicle
The rising cost of housing in the Bay Area has dramatically resegregated neighborhoods by race and pushed minority families to the outer edges of the region, a new paper shows. Researchers at UC Berkeley and the California Housing Partnership studied census tract-level data from 2000 to 2015 in each of the nine Bay Area counties. They found that a 30 percent increase in median rent corresponded with a 28 percent decrease in low-income minority households but no significant change in the number of white families.

Op-Ed: To overcome its housing crisis, Calfornia needs YIMBY to become the new NIMBY
Los Angeles Times
My wife and I bought our house, a two-bedroom fixer-upper a couple of miles south of UCLA, in 1978. My dad termed the house “a dump,” and he was shocked at its outrageous price tag of $92,000. Today our modest bungalow, because of its location, would sell for something approaching $2 million, but we don’t have any desire to move. We love the place, and we love the neighborhood. But we also see the problem with leafy neighborhoods of single-family homes like ours.

STATE HOUSING POLICIES

State tells Encinitas to abolish anti-housing growth law
San Diego Union-Tribune
Encinitas has been told by state officials it needs to “amend or invalidate” an anti-growth ordinance passed by voters in 2013, or continue to violate California laws. On Tuesday, the city received a letter asking it to take necessary action to eliminate or change Proposition A, a law approved by 52 percent of voters that requires a public vote every time a developer proposes changing zoning or increasing density. It also set a citywide building height limit of 30 feet, about two stories, and low by even coastal community standards.

A dark side to the California dream: How the state Constitution makes affordable housing hard to build
Los Angeles Times
In 1950, Californians voted to put a provision in the state Constitution that makes it harder for poor people to find a place to live. Article 34, which remains in effect, requires voter approval before public housing is built in a community. At the time it passed, the real estate industry argued taxpayers should have a right to vote on low-income housing projects because they were publicly funded infrastructure similar to schools or roads.

Three lawsuits in two weeks: Huntington Beach and the state sue each other over affordable housing
Orange County Register
On the heels of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s announcement Jan. 25 about California’s lawsuit against Huntington Beach regarding affordable housing, new state Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris issued a statement criticizing the litigation. “I believe that this lawsuit is contrary to the thoughtful, deliberate and strategic approach that is required if we are to genuinely address California’s housing crisis,” said Petrie-Norris, a Laguna Beach Democrat whose district includes Huntington Beach. “This is not the time for political brinkmanship.”

Change California’s Proposition 13? Poll shows an uphill climb
San Francisco Chronicle
There’s only middling support for changing part of Proposition 13, according to a new poll. Relax — nobody wants to touch the residential aspects of Prop. 13, the voter-approved 1978 ballot measure that limits increases on property taxes. Sixty-four percent of likely voters think the law has generally been a good thing for the state, according to a survey by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California, released Wednesday.

Op-Ed: Time for Orange County cities to act on housing crisis or Newsom will do it for them
Orange County Register
Any doubt newly minted Gov. Gavin Newsom is serious about ending the housing affordability crisis that has put the California dream “in peril” vanished Jan.25 when Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra’s office filed suit against Huntington Beach, alleging the city failed to plan for and provide sufficient housing to meet the needs of its population. “California’s housing crisis is an existential threat to our state’s future and demands an urgent and comprehensive response,” said the governor in a statement announcing the legal salvo against the seaside Orange County town.

My turn: Cities are committed to addressing housing shortage
CALmatters
As a recent California transplant and the head of an association of nearly 500 cities, I am in awe at the diversity of California communities. Whether it’s geography, climate, ethnicity or economy, the Golden State is unique. Yet there is a critical challenge that binds California’s communities: the unaffordability of housing for many of our residents. Addressing this crisis demands bold solutions, hard discussions and open minds. A diverse group of interests must come to the table and, yes, that includes California’s cities.

LOCAL HOUSING INITIATIVES

Mayor’s call for housing seeks to speed glacial pace
San Francisco Chronicle
Mayor London Breed’s State of the City address last week was packed with plans, and one of them in particular grabbed my attention. She proposed a charter amendment for the November ballot that would make it easier to build 100 percent affordable housing projects — teacher housing included. If a proposed project fit the city’s zoning regulations and other requirements, it would get the green light. There would be no appeal, no way for angry neighbors to block it.

Details Emerge on San Jose’s $100 Million Pledge to Build More Affordable Housing
KQED
The city of San Jose has announced details for how it plans to spend $100 million on affordable housing. Providing that the City Council approves them, 11 proposed developments promise to add 1,144 apartments to San Jose’s housing inventory. Roughly half of the funding comes from loan repayments from previous affordable housing projects; the other half from inclusionary housing fees that market rate developers are required to pay.

CALIFORNIA BUDGET

Most Californians like Gov. Gavin Newsom’s $209 billion budget proposal, survey says
Sacramento Bee
Most Californians support Gov. Gavin Newsom’s first budget proposal, especially his plans to increase funding for early childhood and higher education, according to a survey by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California. The survey found seven in 10 California adults support the $209 billion spending plan Newsom unveiled last month. It represents his opening proposal for negotiations with the Legislature that will continue through June, the deadline for them to reach a deal.