cawacko
Well-known member
We know it's just right wingers that are greedy and it's people on the left who care about the poor but when we get away from political platitudes we see a different story. These well to do Bay Area communities may vote Democratic but their actions belie the caring rhetoric. Instead it's concern about property values rather than having more diverse economic communities.
Study finds whiter Bay Area cities are shirking their affordable housing goals
Whiter Bay Area cities are held to a lower standard in terms of affordable housing goals, according to new research from UC Berkeley’s Haas Institute.
The study looked at Census data compared to the housing benchmarks set by regional planners to find a connection between the proportion of white residents in a community and lower goals set for those cities in terms of low- and moderate-income housing.
California law requires that each city and town within the state adequately plan for existing and projected housing needs by zoning where housing can realistically be permitted and constructed. The Regional Housing Needs Allocation gives cities a housing benchmark across income levels.
The research found “clear relationships between the number of units allocated, adjusted for population size of each city, and the racial composition of cities.” Race, rather than median income, was the demographic factor much more strongly associated with the units assigned to a city.
The researchers argue that the inequitable housing allocation is a result of less explicit – although still effective – exclusionary policy often “expressed as a desire of homeowners to maintain or increase their property values and institutionalized through regulations that indirectly inhibit development of housing benefiting low income, homeless, reentry, and other marginalized communities.”
“There’s no doubt that there are some jurisdictions that frankly don't want to build more housing,” said study co-author Heather Bromfield.
Cities have ways to avoid affordable housing. Officials can avoid designating land as “priority development areas,” locations near transit centers where new housing should be concentrated, according to regional plans. These areas are determined solely on an opt-in basis by cities.
“Because they’re opt-in, many cities have no PDAs or their geographical coverage is incredibly small,” Bromfield said. “For example there are cities in Marin where there are areas where transit lines are being established and that do have connections to regional job centers that are not designated as PDAs.”
Trending: Here are the Bay Area cities with the fastest appreciating home values
Another creative tactic was Assemblyman Marc Levine’s (D-San Rafael) successful effort to designate the most populated parts of Marin County as “suburban,” lowering the densities needed to meet state requirements on affordable housing. With 72 percent of residents of Marin County identifying as white, it’s the least diverse county in the Bay Area.
Of course, permitting also remains a major obstacle to affordable housing development across the Bay Area. More than two-thirds of the housing allocated for very low, low and moderate-income households were not permitted.
The report says high building costs and little financing hurts affordable housing production, but it points out that environmental review challenges and pressure from constituents often prevent or kill projects.
When it comes to permitting, however, there seems to little in the way of a relationship between city racial or socioeconomic composition and permitting more affordable housing. This implies that most of the regional inequity is due to the initial allocation standards.
“If we’re comparing what we’re seeing with permitting versus allocation, allocation is where we need to be focusing,” Bromfield said.
The researchers advocate for regional planners to incorporate fair housing into considerations when determining allocations.
“We need to predict the future, but we also need to look at the present,” Bromfield said.
https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfran...rdable-housing-race-demographics.html?ana=twt
Study finds whiter Bay Area cities are shirking their affordable housing goals
Whiter Bay Area cities are held to a lower standard in terms of affordable housing goals, according to new research from UC Berkeley’s Haas Institute.
The study looked at Census data compared to the housing benchmarks set by regional planners to find a connection between the proportion of white residents in a community and lower goals set for those cities in terms of low- and moderate-income housing.
California law requires that each city and town within the state adequately plan for existing and projected housing needs by zoning where housing can realistically be permitted and constructed. The Regional Housing Needs Allocation gives cities a housing benchmark across income levels.
The research found “clear relationships between the number of units allocated, adjusted for population size of each city, and the racial composition of cities.” Race, rather than median income, was the demographic factor much more strongly associated with the units assigned to a city.
The researchers argue that the inequitable housing allocation is a result of less explicit – although still effective – exclusionary policy often “expressed as a desire of homeowners to maintain or increase their property values and institutionalized through regulations that indirectly inhibit development of housing benefiting low income, homeless, reentry, and other marginalized communities.”
“There’s no doubt that there are some jurisdictions that frankly don't want to build more housing,” said study co-author Heather Bromfield.
Cities have ways to avoid affordable housing. Officials can avoid designating land as “priority development areas,” locations near transit centers where new housing should be concentrated, according to regional plans. These areas are determined solely on an opt-in basis by cities.
“Because they’re opt-in, many cities have no PDAs or their geographical coverage is incredibly small,” Bromfield said. “For example there are cities in Marin where there are areas where transit lines are being established and that do have connections to regional job centers that are not designated as PDAs.”
Trending: Here are the Bay Area cities with the fastest appreciating home values
Another creative tactic was Assemblyman Marc Levine’s (D-San Rafael) successful effort to designate the most populated parts of Marin County as “suburban,” lowering the densities needed to meet state requirements on affordable housing. With 72 percent of residents of Marin County identifying as white, it’s the least diverse county in the Bay Area.
Of course, permitting also remains a major obstacle to affordable housing development across the Bay Area. More than two-thirds of the housing allocated for very low, low and moderate-income households were not permitted.
The report says high building costs and little financing hurts affordable housing production, but it points out that environmental review challenges and pressure from constituents often prevent or kill projects.
When it comes to permitting, however, there seems to little in the way of a relationship between city racial or socioeconomic composition and permitting more affordable housing. This implies that most of the regional inequity is due to the initial allocation standards.
“If we’re comparing what we’re seeing with permitting versus allocation, allocation is where we need to be focusing,” Bromfield said.
The researchers advocate for regional planners to incorporate fair housing into considerations when determining allocations.
“We need to predict the future, but we also need to look at the present,” Bromfield said.
https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfran...rdable-housing-race-demographics.html?ana=twt
