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Action Alert: Send your support for pro-housing bills SB 477 and SB 478
All of us know that housing opponents never sleep. They never stop trying to make housing harder and more expensive to build, and will stop at nothing to maintain exclusionary zoning. Each time the state passes new laws to address our housing crisis, housing opponents try to create local roadblocks to prevent these laws from working well.
But fortunately, Senator Scott Wiener has introduced two new bills, Senate Bill 477 and Senate Bill 478, that are designed to create more local accountability and prevent noncompliance with state housing laws:
SB 477 strengthens California’s housing data collection infrastructure by requiring cities to provide better data on local housing production and the impact of new state laws.
SB 478 encourages the production of small apartment buildings and “missing middle” housing, by prohibiting cities from introducing unreasonably high minimum lot sizes or low floor-area ratios (FARs) on parcels zoned for 2-10 housing units.
Please send your support for SB 477 and SB 478 today. Make sure your representatives in Sacramento know that they must hold California’s cities accountable and stop NIMBYs from blocking much-needed new housing.
Women in Housing Policy & Advocacy
Register for next week’s Women in Housing Policy & Advocacy event! Celebrate women’s history month with us as we honor what women can do in housing. Hear from organizers working on the ground to build pro-housing support in their own communities.
Are there women housing leaders you would like to see honored? Reply to this email with any suggestions, we would love to hear them!
Share and Register here!
Stop Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Hate
Creating inclusive communities means more than just building housing. Ending racialized violence is a critical step in achieving diverse and equitable neighborhoods. The fatal shootings and recent attacks of members of the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community are unacceptable.
AAPI hate is not new. But the work of anti-racist groups and advocates is critical now that the AAPI community has faced an increase in attacks and hate crimes. According to Stop AAPI Hate, there have been 3,795 documented attackes from last March through February. Women reported 68% of the incidents.
Abundant Housing LA condemns all forms of racism and hate against the AAPI community. In the housing advocacy space, we have consistently opposed any housing policies or language suggesting that specific nationalities have contributed to LA’s housing crisis. These talking points are common and we ask that you stand up and speak out any time that you hear AAPI bias in the housing space, or suggestions that any group of people are responsible for the housing crisis. Please reach out to us if you would like any support or information on this issue.
Housing advocates must become allies and stand against violence and hatred. Take action now to stop AAPI hate. Read these suggestions here for what YOU can do now.
Latest news: The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation supports our effort to Make RHNA Real
Abundant Housing LA is excited to announce that the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation is supporting the Making RHNA Real initiative. Los Angeles County has a unique opportunity in 2021 to commit to the creation of housing supply at the scale necessary to help alleviate the region’s housing crisis and build a more equitable and sustainable place to live.
The Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) is a state-mandated process by which every city in California must develop a plan, or “housing element,” every eight years to meet its housing needs. This plan provides the blueprint that ultimately dictates how much housing, and of what type, can be built in every city for the next period. After AHLA’s successful advocacy campaign in 2019, Southern California has been given an ambitious goal of 1.4 million new homes to build by 2029, concentrated primarily in jobs-rich coastal cities that have for generations used exclusionary zoning to drive up prices, create sprawl, and increase regional segregation. This is a promising goal, but without a meaningful accountability mechanism these same cities have already begun to use evasive tactics to prevent enough homes from being built or push them to farther flung, lower-income communities, increasing displacement and hindering our ability to reach the state’s climate goals.
The only path towards real accountability for these housing goals is a coordinated effort that combines an equity-focused approach, grassroots organizing, and agile policy analysis to hold every city accountable to doing their part to fix our housing crisis. The Hilton Foundation’s support will ensure that we are able to “Make RHNA Real” and meaningfully change the underlying systemic housing planning problems that are contributing to the housing affordability crisis.
Abundant Housing is hiring!
Are you interested in working for the pro-housing movement? See our open position here and send an application!
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