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(Bloomberg) — California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill aimed at accelerating housing supply, defying opposition from opponents including Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and neighborhoods in the state’s largest city.
The law allows construction of apartment buildings up to nine stories tall near mass transit stations regardless of local zoning codes, which supporters say will help control skyrocketing housing prices. Bass warned of “unintended consequences”, while opponents in residential enclaves said that too much construction would spoil the quiet atmosphere of their neighborhoods.
The confrontation emerged as a flashpoint in a long-running battle over how to ease a chronic housing shortage in a state where the average home price exceeds $800,000. Newsom, a potential presidential contender, has previously outlined a plan to add 2.5 million homes to California. The Los Angeles area has one of the most cost-burdened renters in the country, and most residents say they have considered leaving because of high prices.
“All Californians deserve an affordable place to live – close to jobs, schools and opportunity,” Newsom said in a statement. “Housing near transit means shorter commutes, lower costs and more time with family.”
Like Bass, Newsom is a Democrat and his decision signals more housing battles in party strongholds like Los Angeles.
In areas like Westwood, an upscale district with Spanish Revival-style homes and high-end condos, some residents said they are concerned that the abundance of building construction will worsen their quality of life. He also said he has his own plans to add multifamily housing to the neighborhood, where the median home price is $1.2 million, according to Redfin.
“Hundreds of historic buildings and single-family homes will be destroyed for no reason at all,” said Steve Sain, president of the Westwood Neighborhood Association. “We already know where we want our high-density housing. But before we even have a chance to fully implement it, here comes Sacramento with a bulldozer.”
State Senator Scott Wiener, a Democrat from San Francisco who wrote the legislation, said it was too early to estimate how much homebuilding his plan would unlock. But addressing affordability will require adding density to areas that were off limits until now, he said.
“If we’re not building more housing near the highest quality public transit, where are we building it?” Wiener said.
Wiener sponsored several other housing initiatives over the years, including a recent measure that exempted some projects from environmental reviews. When Newsom signed it into law in June, he touted it as part of his “abundance agenda,” a political movement that is gaining ground among Democrats toward more aggressive pro-manufacturing measures.
A new California law allows tall apartment buildings within a half-mile of heavily used transit stations in eight counties, including places like San Francisco and San Diego. It also removes some protections for building on historic land.
In Westwood, which is located between Beverly Hills and Bel Air, residents were concerned that homes previously untouched by other housing initiatives could potentially be redeveloped. Two new Los Angeles Metro stations are also scheduled to be added to the neighborhood by 2028, increasing the area affected by new building regulations.
“Once you get that first apartment, people start selling and selling and selling,” said Terry Tippit, who has lived for more than half a century in a Spanish Revival-style house two miles south of the University of California at Los Angeles.
Councilwoman Traci Parks, who also opposes the new rules, says they could drive low-income families out of places like East L.A. by making their homes more susceptible to new zoning rules.
A major controversy is that the city already plans to encourage multi-family construction near transit, without touching single-family homes. But critics say the plan’s progress is slow.
Los Angeles wants to add about 456,000 housing units by 2029, but only 3,100 permits for new units were approved in the first half of this year. UCLA housing data analyst Aaron Baral says he doubts the city can adequately meet its goal discounting “the vast abundance of city land.”
–With the assistance of Eliyahu Kamishar.
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