In Sacramento, Senator Scott Wiener has introduced Senate Bill 827, designed to improve California’s housing affordability and displacement crisis. The progressive bill was noticed nationwide, with the Boston Globe claiming, “The bill may be the biggest environmental boon, the best job creator, and the greatest strike against inequality that anyone’s proposed in the United States in decades.” Locally in the Bay Area, we view this bill as an opportunity to tear down the economic barriers that have been causing displacement, gentrification, and economic segregation for generations. Furthermore, this bill is an environmentalist’s dream, pushing for more urban infill to create the urbanist utopia of walkable neighborhoods, racial and socio-economic diverse communities, and a place where people can actually afford to live. The concept is simple, put more housing next to transit, let local jurisdictions determine implementation rules, and finally start working to dig ourselves out of this inequality hole.
Unfortunately, local-control advocates are pushing back. While the significant majority of Bay Area cities have failed to build the housing needed for our workforce, some feel local jurisdictions should continue to hold all the decision making. In San Francisco, four Supervisors have introduced legislation to oppose Senate Bill 827. We believe this is the wrong route for San Francisco and for California. Please sign our petition to let the Board of Supervisors know that you support SB 827, an important statewide pro-housing, pro-transit piece of legislation.
