Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Walters: Newsom Raises the Housing Bar on Himself
dan_walters
By Dan Walters, CalMatters Commentary
Published 5 years ago on
January 30, 2019

Share

Gavin Newsom began his governorship this month by promising to confront what he described as California’s most important issue, an ever-increasing shortage of housing.


Opinion
Dan Walters
CALmatters Commentary

California’s chronic housing shortfall, particularly for low- and moderate-income families, and its soaring costs are an existential threat to the state’s economy and its social fabric.
“This is the issue,” Newsom said as he introduced his first state budget.
California’s chronic housing shortfall, particularly for low- and moderate-income families, and its soaring costs are an existential threat to the state’s economy and its social fabric.
The cost of housing is the primary factor in California’s shameful status as the nation’s most poverty-stricken state, and undercuts efforts to alleviate poverty through such gestures as higher welfare grants, higher minimum wages and the state’s new “earned income tax credit.” Putting a few more dollars in the pockets of the poor will accomplish little if they are immediately soaked up by higher rents.
“We’re not going to play small ball on housing,” Newsom declared. He pledged to establish “more realistic” regional goals for housing and warned cities that failing to meet them would have financial consequences – cutting off transportation aid from the state’s new gas tax increase.
He also supported fast-tracking housing projects through the California Environmental Quality Act process, reducing the heavy “impact fees” that local governments impose on housing construction, making more excess highway right-of-way available for housing and jawboning employers, particularly those in Silicon Valley, into helping build housing for their workers.

Pledging a Half-Billion Dollars for New Housing

“We are doing our part and I will be asking them to do their part,” he said.
Silicon Valley got the message and within days its leaders created a new “partnership” that pledged a half-billion dollars for new housing.
Last week, Newsom underscored his insistence that local governments meet their housing quotas, even if their voters don’t like it. He announced that Attorney General Xavier Becerra was suing Huntington Beach for stubbornly refusing to meet housing goals.
“The state doesn’t take this action lightly,” Newsom said. “The huge housing costs and sky-high rents are eroding quality of life for families across this state. California’s housing crisis is an existential threat to our state’s future and demands an urgent and comprehensive response.”
It would be fair to say that in just a few weeks, Newsom has been more engaged in the housing crisis than predecessor Jerry Brown was during the previous eight years. However, it’s just a beginning. Even though he says his budget would spend $7.7 billion on housing, that’s only a third of the investment needed to increase housing production by 50 percent over current levels, and state and local governments don’t have that kind of money.

200,000 Housing Starts a Year

There’s only one way for California to reach the ambitious goal that Newsom declared – 200,000 housing starts a year – and that’s to make private investment more attractive by cutting red tape and shunning such fallacious notions as rent control.

“The state doesn’t take this action lightly. The huge housing costs and sky-high rents are eroding quality of life for families across this state. California’s housing crisis is an existential threat to our state’s future and demands an urgent and comprehensive response.”Gov. Gavin Newsom
Suing a strongly Republican city such as Huntington Beach is a no-risk move for a Democratic governor, but is he willing to crack down on anti-housing liberal communities such as Marin County, his home before winning the governorship? Two years ago, Brown signed legislation giving Marin, and only Marin, a decade-long exemption from meeting housing quotas.
Still another tricky factor is the woeful lack of construction workers. Newsom would have to confront numerous impediments to training more carpenters, electricians, plumbers and other building trades, including an education system biased toward college-prep, rather than skilled trades, and construction unions themselves.
Newsom has raised the performance bar on himself over an issue whose outcome is easily measured. He’ll either clear the bar or fall short.
CALmatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it matters. For more stories by Dan Walters, go to calmatters.org/commentary.
[activecampaign form=19]

DON'T MISS

When Newsom Gives His State of the State, He Should Be Candid About California’s Economy

DON'T MISS

CA’s Liberal Government Has a Long History of Caving to Special Interests

DON'T MISS

Newsom, Legislators Opt for Gimmicks and Wishful Thinking to Close California’s Budget Deficit

DON'T MISS

Courage to Embrace Change: El Rio Reyes Conservation Trust Boldly Rebrands as Kings River Land Trust

DON'T MISS

Committed to Politics or Committed to Fresno’s Children?

DON'T MISS

Repealing Prop. 47 is a Misguided Battle Cry. It Won’t Make California Safer.

DON'T MISS

Misty Her Might Be Best Superintendent Candidate. But Fresno Unified Still Needs a Statewide Search.

DON'T MISS

How California’s Prized Solution for Methane Gas Is Backfiring on Farmers

DON'T MISS

Many Californians Rely on This Farmers Market Program. Newsom Wants to Cut It

DON'T MISS

Carbon Capture Storage Is Key to California’s Economy & Energy Future

No data was found

Facebook News Tab Will Soon Be Unavailable as Meta Scales Back News and Political Content

15 hours ago

Stock Market Today: Wall Street Rises to More Records to Close Out Its Latest Winning Month

15 hours ago

A Fresno County First: Kerman Council Passes Amended Gaza Cease-Fire Resolution

15 hours ago

UN Top Court Orders Israel to Open More Land Crossings for Aid into Gaza

15 hours ago

How Involved Is Southern California Consulting Firm in FUSD Executive Dealings?

16 hours ago

Biden’s Fundraiser with Obama and Clinton Nets a Record $25 Million, His Campaign Says

16 hours ago

Fresno Unified’s Self-Protection Racket Is Hurting Our Kids

17 hours ago

Rockin’ Out or Laughing, the Valley Has Its Pick of Weekend Events

17 hours ago

Ex-Correctional Officer at Women’s Prison in California Sentenced for Sexually Abusing Inmates

20 hours ago

Caitlin Clark and Iowa Draw Nearly 5 Million Viewers for Second-Round NCAA Win

20 hours ago

PGA HOPE at Riverside Golf Course Introduces Military Veterans to the Game

PGA HOPE, now underway at Fresno’s Riverside Golf Course, is designed to introduce golf to veterans and active duty military members t...

13 hours ago

PGA HOPE at Fresno's Riverside Golf Course
13 hours ago

PGA HOPE at Riverside Golf Course Introduces Military Veterans to the Game

15 hours ago

Cronenworth’s Big Hit Helps Lift the Padres to a 6-4 Win Over Melvin’s Giants

15 hours ago

Shohei Ohtani Reaches 3 Times in Home Debut as the Dodgers Rout the Cardinals 7-1

15 hours ago

Facebook News Tab Will Soon Be Unavailable as Meta Scales Back News and Political Content

15 hours ago

Stock Market Today: Wall Street Rises to More Records to Close Out Its Latest Winning Month

15 hours ago

A Fresno County First: Kerman Council Passes Amended Gaza Cease-Fire Resolution

15 hours ago

UN Top Court Orders Israel to Open More Land Crossings for Aid into Gaza

16 hours ago

How Involved Is Southern California Consulting Firm in FUSD Executive Dealings?

MENU

CONNECT WITH US

Search

Send this to a friend