This week in affordable housing news…:

State Update:

• Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas announced a wave of leadership changes in the Assembly just before Thanksgiving, elevating affordable housing champions to several key positions: Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D-Winters), author of ACA 1, was named Majority Leader, Asm. Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland), the former housing committee chair, was tapped to lead the Appropriations Committee, and Asm. Chris Ward (D-San Diego), author of several noteworthy affordable housing bills in recent years, will chair the Housing and Community Development Committee. CalMatters noted a distinct pro-housing trend in the new appointments: “By elevating aggressively pro-housing members and demoting those who are less so, Rivas seems to be laying the institutional groundwork for an aggressively pro-housing legislature next year.”

• The state Supreme Court agreed this week to hear arguments on a controversial taxation measure heading to the 2024 ballot that Governor Newsom and legislative leaders have argued is unconstitutional. The court ordered California Secretary of State Shirley Weber and proponents of the “Taxpayer Protection Act” to make their case for why the challenge should or should not proceed—setting the stage for the court to issue a decision on whether the initiative will be allowed on the ballot. Business groups behind the initiative are asking voters to expand the definition of what constitutes a tax and raise vote thresholds for local tax measures. Democrats, cities, and labor unions argue the measure violates state law. The court has given the parties until February of next year to file arguments and counter-arguments. Weber’s office is required to formally place measures on the November ballot by next June.

ICYMI – Top news stories: 

Not your grandma’s granny flat: How San Diego hacked state housing law to build ADU ‘apartment buildings’
CalMatters
In the minds of most Californians, accessory dwelling units — ADUs, short — bring to mind words like “small,” “subtle” and “cute.” None of which describe the side-by-side ADU duplexes on E Street. Perched at the edge of San Diego’s desirable Golden Hill neighborhood, there’s nothing dainty or diminutive about these three-story structures. “Backyard cottage” is another term used to describe accessory dwelling units, but these are out front, practically hiding the five-unit multiplex to which they are technically “accessory.” Like dozens of small and not-so-small apartment buildings across San Diego, the structures on E Street are ADUs in only one way: They were permitted under the city’s ADU Bonus Program.

The private sector is failing to address California’s housing crisis. Social housing shows promise.
CalMatters – Oped by Cynthia Strathmann, Strategic Actions for a Just Economy
When it comes to affordable housing, Californians mostly agree on one point—we don’t have enough. There are different, sometimes overlapping explanations for why: zoning is too restrictive; regulations are too cumbersome; land is too expensive; homeowners are too resistant. It’s a supply problem; it’s a demand problem; it’s a corporatization problem; it’s a tax problem; it’s a tenant rights problem; it’s a short-term rentals problem; it’s an institutionalized racism problem. Each of these explanations is more or less true. Rather than continuing to hope for a private-sector solution, California should invest in a strong social housing program.

Just how far behind is San Diego on building new housing? Just 62 middle-income homes were permitted citywide in 2 years.
San Diego Union-Tribune
San Diego is falling far short of its goals for new housing construction despite a wide range of developer incentives and regulatory rollbacks in recent years, according to a new report from the city planning department. Housing production must more than triple for the city to meet its state-mandated goal of 108,000 new units by 2029, the report concludes. And the problem is particularly bad with low-income and moderate-income housing. San Diego is nearly on pace for construction of market-rate housing for people with higher incomes. But the pace of construction of low-income and middle-income units must be 15 times faster than in 2021 and 2022.