Regional housing proposal gathers approval

The vote which came early Friday, Jan. 18, after hours of comment from concerned property owners and supportive housing advocates included opposition from San Mateo County officials on the executive board.

Millbrae Mayor Wayne Lee justified his dissenting vote by suggesting that the policies promoted by the compact would further compound the problems officials are attempting to solve.

“I think the concept is good. The concept of trying to build more housing is good. But their approach falls way short,” said Lee.

Amie Fishman, executive director of the Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California, offered an alternative perspective though.

“Community, business and local elected agree — the framework of production, preservation and protections in our housing policies is what is need to drive bold solutions to our region’s housing crisis and provide badly-needed relief for all of our community members,” she said in a prepared comment. “Now is the time for the Legislature to take action to hold this framework together through a unified and coordinated legislative package.”

Under ABAG’s approval, which followed the Metropolitan Transportation Commission board’s similar vote late last year, state and local officials will receive a laundry list of ambitious land use policy recommendations.

The recommendations seek to establish just-cause eviction policies, emergency rent caps, displacement assistance strategies, enhanced zoning requirements near transit stations, expedited housing development processes, affordable housing development streamlines on public land and tax proposals to finance the initiatives expected to cost about $1.5 billion.

County Supervisor Dave Pine also voted against the proposal too, but was not available for comment, while Supervisor David Canepa was absent from the meeting and did not vote.

Despite the outcome, Lee said top among his list of concerns is a likelihood that the divisive initiative will aggravate residents who will work to block future housing development for fear of losing their quality of life.

Rather than push through the compact, which is on track to move to Sacramento as a legislative package, Lee suggested more outreach should have been conducted to quell the fears raised by critics.

“You have to give the NIMBYs a reason not to object,” said Lee, evoking a common criticism of the process leading to the compact’s approval, which many feel was not sufficiently transparent.

Beyond frustrations with the lack of input sought from local officials and community members, Lee said he feels the plan is short-sighted in its urgency to facilitate housing construction without considering the long-term financial burden imposed on cities.

“It’s kind of short-sighted,” he said. “It’s a short-term gain and we’re still going to have long-term problems.”

The primary issue Lee anticipates will be financing the services needed to accommodate the uptick in housing development, such as the additional pension obligations paid to police and firefighters as well as toll taken on local infrastructure.

He suggested a less ambitious plan which kept an eye to fiscal requirements might have been as wiser proposal.

“I wanted a balanced approach that is sustainable,” he said.

Lee also criticized the proposal to finance many of the recommendations with tax measures, and suggested many locals are already exhausted with the rates they are required to pay.

“There is tax fatigue and you can only go to the well so many times,” he said.

He suggested he would have preferred the plan lean more heavily on seeking money from the large local companies which have spurred much of the economic growth and fueled the imbalance between available homes and jobs.

“The corporations don’t take any responsibility at all, other than saying you taxpayers need to pay for more,” he said.

Yet despite his variety of criticisms, Lee acknowledged the need to combat the housing crisis and supported the larger effort to relieve the many residents struggling to afford living in the Bay Area.

“The concept is good,” he said. “It’s just the execution and process was not well done.”

austin@smdailyjournal.com

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