Every eight years the state assesses how much housing California needs. For this RHNA cycle, the allocation for Monte Sereno has more than tripled, from 61 units to 193 units in the 6th RHNA cycle. Monte Sereno has 1,249 parcels in 1.7 square miles. We have 3,479 residents. Yes, Monte Sereno will be required to build 193 units. However, the Governor and State Legislators' mandate to “Build, Baby, Build” only exacerbates the problem. Housing is not just a California issue. What’s really causing our housing prices to be so unaffordable?Ever since 2017, a few hundred housing bills would be signed by the Governor in September to become effective in the coming January changing the way projects are approved or the way the Municipal Code is interpreted through the state bills that uniformly apply to all cities. “The [2020] new housing laws, among other things, relax regulations, streamline development procedures, increase incentives for the construction of affordable housing projects and further limit local control over housing development,” according to Best Best & Krieger LLP’s Legal Alerts.  Some argue that the housing crisis justifies such state control of local zoning, which “could include more lawsuits against local governments'' brought by the Attorney General. But others are concerned that these bills exacerbate gentrification in vulnerable communities, erode local democracy and limit the local city council’s ability to negotiate more affordable units than the state laws require.

Brazeman is the author of “The End of Single-Family Zoning in California: How to Protect Yourself and Profit from Permissive New Upzoning Laws.”  This book shines light on the new laws (SB 9 and SB 10).  Download the book now:  

https://theendofzoning.com/The-End-of-Single-Family-Zoning-in-California.pdf