It might be the end of 2021, but our planning for 2022 is already well underway. So what’s on the immediate horizon for Generation Housing? Well, as it turns out, quite a few things. Here’s what you need to know:
New Year, New Bills:
The second year of the California State Legislature 2021-22 session kicks off in the New Year. While we have yet to identify significant bills of consequence at the moment that this content is being written, we expect more and more legislation to emerge in the coming weeks. So stay tuned, and feel free to contact us should you have any questions about the upcoming session and/or our policy priorities.
Housing Elements…we NEED YOUR SUPPORT:
We have a once-in-8-years opportunity to dramatically reform housing policies in Sonoma County through the Housing Element process. We’ll be honest, it’s complicated and requires ALL hands on deck. In partnership with the Campaign for Fair Housing Elements, a statewide coalition of housing organizations working to ensure our local Housing Elements are equitable, inclusive, and diverse, we have developed a massive trove of useful resources that can help you become an expert on Housing Elements in short order. Because let’s be clear, we can’t do this alone. As the saying goes, “…it takes a village.” And our village is large and complex. That’s why we are calling upon our membership to sign up via our website to learn more and help transform our communities in a manner that helps realize our vision for a more sustainable Sonoma County.
SB-9 and Sonoma…the marathon continues:
On December 15, 2021 the Sonoma City Council passed an urgency ordinance that effectively renders all SB-9 housing projects infeasible. Other communities such as Cupertino, Los Altos Hills, and Fairfax have all implemented comparable reactive measures that “preserve the character” of their communities at the expense of some gentle density and desperately needed “Missing Middle” housing. It’s imperative that our membership join the chorus of voices that are advocating for full implementation of SB-9, minus the “poison pills” that all but ensure these units will never be developed. Advocating for more “Missing Middle housing remains a key priority for Generation Housing as we enter into the New Year. With the median cost of single-family homes continuing to soar, we MUST create a more diverse range of housing options so that ALL families have equal opportunity to carve their own path towards home ownership. We look forward to continuing this campaign and working diligently with Sonoma leadership and city staff in the endeavor to ensure their policy actions do not neuter this bill’s intended purpose – to provide another tool in the toolbox that can help alleviate our housing shortage and end single-family zoning which has historically marginalized communities and perpetuated exclusionary housing policies.