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Thread (1/?): It's election day, which means millions of Californians will be glued to their screens, trying to relieve their anxiety by refreshing the results of...local ballot measures dealing with land use and housing!
Obviously I'm kidding. I know most of you are preoccupied with something far more pressing at the top of your ballots: Prop 19 and Prop 21 (portable property tax breaks for seniors, rent control), which you can read more about here. https://calmatters.org/election-2020-guide/
But don't let all the attention Wolf Blitzer pays to Costa Hawkins reform and base year property tax assessments drown out the importance of local ballot measures! As our governor is fond of saying, "localism is determinative", and that's VERY true for housing (cue YIMBY moans)
Here are a handful of local housing measures I'm keeping an eye on across the state. Some will be good temperature checks (ahem) on how Californians are feeling about housing issues during the pandemic.
Alameda, Measure Z: Will voters end the ban on apartment buildings in this East Bay island suburb (it's a literal island). Classic local housing density war. https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Ballot-battle-in-town-of-Alameda-pits-multiunit-15619564.php
Berkeley, Measure KK: A personal favorite. Among other things, changes city charter to allow firefighters to live 40 miles outside the city. How is this a housing measure? Because proponents say Bay's insane cost of living means firefighters can't live close to Berkeley.
Also as a former Cal bear, I always enjoyed seeing "BFD" on fire trucks. So a soft spot for this one.
Sacramento, Measure C--Largest city with a local rent control initiative in 2020. This one could pass even if Prop 21, the statewide initiative, fails. Tenant groups have had uneven success on local rent control initiatives in recent years. https://www.capradio.org/articles/2020/10/27/making-sense-of-measure-c-a-voters-guide-to-the-rent-control-proposal-in-sacramento/
Adelanto, Measure R: A vacant parcel tax in a place you may not expect to see one. Oakland made lots of news in 2018 when the very blue city passed a tax on vacant properties. Now this small San Bernardino County city, population 34,000, could try the same approach.
San Diego, Measure A: $900m affordable housing bond, the biggest local housing bond on the ballot this year. Interesting test for how locals feel about funding homelessness solutions amidst the pandemic. https://www.kpbs.org/news/2020/oct/16/measure-a-raise-taxes-affordable-housing-bond/
Mountain View, Measure C: Bans RV parking on certain streets. People living in RV's--an increasingly popular last-resort for California's homeless-- has become a major political controversy in Bay Area suburbs like Mountain View. https://www.kqed.org/news/11842966/mountain-view-measure-c-would-push-rv-dwellers-off-city-streets
And finally, Measure R v. Measure Y in San Mateo: One measure modifies the general plan to allow taller, denser building near transit; the other sticks with stricter height limits. https://www.smdailyjournal.com/news/local/san-mateo-to-decide-on-height-density-caps/article_b44e6266-0204-11eb-8f12-bf187d985bd4.html
There's tons of others, including several individual project developments and Article 34 approvals (more Article 34 info in link below). Let's hope these are settled early in the evening, so we can avoid all that late-night election stress. https://calmatters.org/housing/2020/06/podcast-how-homes-in-black-neighborhoods-are-devalued-in-california/
