Budget package makes sweeping reforms to CEQA to get more housing built
SACRAMENTO -- The state budget package passed by the Legislature Monday evening and headed to the governor for his signature reforms the California Environmental Quality Act to make it easier to build climate-friendly infill housing and essential facilities like childcare centers, farmworker housing, parks, food banks, and health clinics.
“These are the most important infill housing reforms the Legislature has ever contemplated,” said Senator Christopher Cabaldon, D-Yolo, said of one of the bills, AB 130. “This bill makes it clear that we are going to open the door for substantial investments in housing.”
Changes adopted through AB 130 will exempt from CEQA housing projects that are less than 20 acres and mostly surrounded by existing urban uses. SB 131 adds critical infrastructure projects to the list of CEQA-exempt facilities.
“This is something we should have done a long time ago, which is to acknowledge that when you are building housing in an existing community, that is environmentally beneficial, that is climate friendly,” said Senator Scott Wiener, a longtime advocate of CEQA reform who presented the legislation in the Senate.
Cabaldon said the next step for the Legislature should be to place a housing bond on the ballot to help build affordable housing. The state budget contains $500 million for low-income housing tax credits and $120 million for the state’s Multi-Family Housing Program, but that funding falls far short of what is needed.
Senator Cabaldon’s SB 417 proposes a $10 billion housing bond for the statewide ballot. Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland, has authored a similar vehicle in the Assembly.
City leaders throughout Cabaldon’s District 3 have made it clear that financing – not regulation – is the biggest impediment to getting more affordable housing built in their communities.
“We can’t just streamline,” Sen. Cabaldon said. “We have to make sure we’re stepping up with the financial pieces to make sure the housing we are opening the door for actually gets built.”
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