The Los Angeles City Council opposed on Wednesday two California Senate bills that were created to help the city’s housing crisis. Critics have said the bills stand to worsen the crisis, increasing gentrification and benefitting real estate interests.
Councilman Paul Koretz introduced two resolutions that were passed by the city council. Both were opposed Senate Bill 9, introduced by State Sen. Toni Atkins of San Diego and Senate Bill 10, introduced by State Sen. Scott Weiner of San Francisco.
"SB9 and 10 are the third annual attempt by San Francisco Sen. Scott Weiner to destroy local control over multi-family and single-family zoning in the state of California. This council has unanimously voted to oppose essentially the same bills twice before and we should do it again," Koretz said.
SB9 allowed lots zoned for single-family housing to have up to four units and a total of eight market-rate units. SB10 allowed approval of multi-family buildings with up to 10 market-rate units on lots that are zoned for single-family homes only.
L.A. Councilmember Mike Bonin, who voted in support of Wednesday’s resolutions, says that while he sees the problems involved in single-family zoning, he looked to which groups oppose and support SB9 and 10.
"I look at who's behind [the bills] and who's opposed to them and when I see the affordable housing organizations here in Los Angeles saying this doesn't do it for us, that concerns me," Bonin said.
Housing Is A Human Right, a division of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, came out in opposition to the bills and conducted a statewide poll that found 63 percent of Californians oppose SB9 and 67 percent oppose SB10.
"We know that [the bills] will cause developers to target our low-income Black and brown communities," Susie Shannon, policy director for Housing Is A Human Right, said in a call to Wednesday's city council meeting.
"There is no requirement for affordable housing or homeless housing, and given that we have 161,000 people who are homeless in the state of California, over 60,000 in the county and over 40,000 in the city, it is absolutely unconscionable to have a housing production bill that would not provide for our homeless community or for people who desperately need affordable housing," she said.
Bonin claimed that single-family zoning is "undoubtedly a construct of systemic racism," but added that "the opportunity to own property has been what has helped people from communities of color get into the middle class and start to build their generational wealth and people are concerned that these bills don't do enough to protect those communities."
“This bill gives no consideration to Black and brown families. We are the founders of the city of Los Angeles and we demand equity and housing," said Assata Umoja of the Hyde Park Organizational Partnership for Empowerment. Umoja opposed the bills.
"Neither of these bills promotes any type of equity nor community stability and will only increase homelessness,” she said.
Councilman Paul Krekorian called the bills "trickle-down housing policy" and said it was a myth that building dense market-rate housing would bend the economic curve and benefit poor people by increasing the supply of housing.
"It was an absurd notion when Ronald Reagan proposed it. It is an absurd notion now," said Krekorian, who advocated for proposing a bill that would offer different solutions to the housing crisis.
Councilmember Gil Cedillo, who voted against both resolutions, said the Senate bills included opportunities for the city to address concerns.
"We must now act and act affirmatively and build our toolbox so that we can take the actions necessary to build housing," Cedillo said. "At the end of the day, the prospect of not disturbing or disrupting these communities, not challenging these communities who want to maintain the apartheid that exists in the city is simply an argument for the status quo."
Councilwoman Nithya Raman also voted against the resolution that opposed SB10 and said, “If we're going to tell Sacramento to stay out of our way when it comes to housing policies, then we, in Los Angeles, have to be willing to do the work ourselves and all of the data that we have right now points to the fact that we haven't been doing it."
Raman noted that the L.A. Department of City Planning told council members on Tuesday that 71 percent of the residentially zoned land in L.A. is for single-family homes only, and any new multi-family construction has to be limited to 29 percent of the city.