Newly proposed legislation attempts to tackle California’s two intertwined crises: climate change and housing development.
For years, California has been in the throes of a housing crisis that experts say is due to lackluster housing production. And much of the housing production that has occurred over the past few decades has been in sprawling subdivisions on the outskirts of urban areas, placing residents further from services and job centers and driving up commute times in a state where transportation makes up the largest share of greenhouse gas emissions.
Complicating the issue is that much of this development has occurred in what’s known as the wildland-urban interface, placing residents at high risk from wildfires, which are growing more frequent and intense from climate change.
What would the bill do?
AB 68, unveiled Thursday and co-sponsored by prominent housing advocacy and conservation groups, attempts to simultaneously address the two issues.
The bill would make it much harder to build subdivisions in areas with high fire or flood risk, and in other areas outside of established communities. At the same time, the bill would fast-track the approval process for multifamily housing on “climate smart” parcels within existing communities, near transit stops, grocery stores, parks, and other services.
Those projects would be subject to ‘ministerial approval,’ a streamlined process that eliminates city officials’ discretion to reject a housing proposal that meets certain objective criteria. The process limits the types of reviews that can be made by localities and would exempt certain projects from review under the California Environmental Quality Act.
Under AB 68, local governments would only be allowed to develop parcels outside of existing communities if they demonstrate that there is no other way to meet their housing goals, or if the parcel has existing development rights.
Groups that are spearheading effort
The bill was introduced by Assemblymember Chris Ward, D-San Diego, and co-sponsored by an unlikely pairing: California YIMBY (“Yes in My Backyard”) and The Nature Conservancy, a global environmental group focused on conservation. Housing advocates and conservation groups have sometimes been at odds in the past, as YIMBY groups and others push for more housing development while conservation groups push to preserve open space.
Making a connection: ‘Housing policy is climate policy’
“California has failed to build enough housing in existing communities near jobs, transit, and schools. Instead, regions have favored development of remote locations, forcing Californians into long commutes to find housing they can afford. This increases vehicle miles traveled and carbon emissions, permanently damages nature and the habitats, at puts more families in areas that are increasingly in the path of catastrophic wildfires, flooding, and other climate-related disasters,” states a fact sheet on the bill from Ward’s office.
“Using density effectively can lead to more efficient development, protect nature, and mitigate the future consequences of climate change. . . Housing production and climate change are intrinsically linked, and our policies must change to reflect this relationship,” the fact sheet continues.
In a video titled ‘Housing Policy is Climate Policy,’ California YIMBY also explains the link between the two issues through stories of fictional Californians.
Because of limits on development in existing cities, the video states that “People like (fictional) Gabriella are forced to live far from their jobs and local services, and spend hours every day stuck in traffic. All that driving and gridlock means we end up with more air pollution that makes people sick.”
