Only one of the top candidates for mayor in Los Angeles supports Senate Bill 79, a state law that allows residential structures up to nine stories near transit stops
With the June 2 primary election only a few days away, most Californians are rightfully focused on figuring out who should be their next governor.
But another race could have a similar impact on the future of the state. And it’s one worth paying attention to even if you don’t live there.
I’m referring to the contest for Los Angeles mayor.
Three top candidates are fighting to advance to the general election in November. One of them has the potential to dramatically reshape the future of housing in California. Los Angeles City Council Member Nithya Raman has aggressively campaigned on major reforms to reduce the governmental housing bureaucracy and increase the city’s annual construction threefold. She has proposed issuing an executive directive guaranteeing approval for new housing construction in 60 days or less for developments that already comply with zoning. She wants a citywide self-certification model to speed up permits for “straightforward” projects.
But most importantly, Raman is a supporter of Senate Bill 79 — a new statewide law that goes into effect on July 1, which allows developers to construct residential structures up to nine stories near transit stops…
That’s a transformative number in a state with an unrelenting housing crisis. Yet the hopes that Los Angeles will get its act together and build at the scale needed to make a dent in the affordability crisis appear to be iffy at best. A UC Berkeley-Los Angeles Times poll released Thursday shows the mayoral race in a dead heat: incumbent Karen Bass with 26% support, Raman at 25% and Trump-backed reality television villain Spencer Pratt at 22%.
Bass and Pratt have shown little interest in implementing sweeping changes to the city’s housing needs…(more)
