Statement: YIMBY Law and YIMBY Action Support Homeless Housing in Millbrae, CA. YIMBY Law Defends Homes in Lawsuit

Contact: Jae Garner

San Francisco, CA— YIMBY Law and YIMBY Action support San Mateo County’s effort to convert a hotel into permanent supportive housing in Millbrae, CA. On January 8th, 2024, YIMBY Law answered a lawsuit filed by the City of Millbrae against San Mateo County wherein the city uses Article 34 of the California Constitution to argue the project should not move forward without a vote. YIMBY Law aims to defend the homes and ensure dozens of unhoused families and seniors have stable, affordable homes. YIMBY Law and YIMBY Action condemn the City of Millbrae for attempting to halt the project.

“Some Millbrae officials will pretend they’re being reasonable here, but there’s no getting around it: they’re using an archaic, racist law to block affordable homes for our unhoused neighbors,” said Jess Hudson, volunteer leader at Peninsula for Everyone, a chapter of YIMBY Action. “As a resident of Millbrae, I’m disgusted by this decision to waste city funds in order to leave our most vulnerable out in the cold. The families and seniors waiting to be housed in my neighborhood deserve access to stable, affordable homes just like everyone else.”

On September 12, 2023, San Mateo County Board of Supervisors approved the plan to purchase and convert a La Quinta Inn and Suites into permanent supportive housing for unhoused families and seniors. The plan would use state funds from Project Homekey to finance the project.

The proposal was met with swift and livid opposition from NIMBYs who used common yet offensive talking points to express their opinions. Many cited safety concerns for the neighborhood and surrounding schools, despite not having evidence that these concerns are substantiated. The City of Millbrae supported the opposition by filing a lawsuit to block the plan on November 13, 2023. On January 8, 2024, YIMBY Law answered the lawsuit to defend the project and ensure dozens of unhoused families and seniors have access to affordable homes in the community. 

The City of Millbrae is using Article 34, a provision in the California constitution that passed as a state ballot measure in 1950, in its argument to attempt to block these homes. The provision requires local governments to put projects up for a community vote before developing, buying, or funding “low-rent housing.” Article 34 serves as a de facto ban on public or social housing in the state, though voters will have the choice to repeal it on the November ballot thanks to a YIMBY-supported bill authored by Senator Ben Allen and passed in 2022.

Article 34 was a reaction to the federal Housing Act of 1949, which banned racial segregation in public housing. Many white communities expressed racist fears about public housing and neighborhood integration when the law passed, and Article 34 has since blocked countless affordable homes from being built in California. It has also created expensive and often prohibitive barriers for nonprofit developers that rely on public funding to build and operate affordable housing communities.

If the City of Millbrae prevails in its lawsuit and Article 34 is not repealed in November 2024, this project along with others like it will continue to face exorbitant fees and barriers by requiring expensive and time-consuming community approval. This will effectively block thousands of affordable homes from being built or converted for the people who need it most. This is particularly egregious in light of California’s classist and racist history of housing policies that have blocked poor Californians and especially Californians of color from buying and renting affordable homes in the state.

YIMBY Action and its California chapters will support the effort to repeal Article 34 in the November election. YIMBY Law will continue to defend the county’s efforts to convert the site into permanent supportive housing for San Mateo County’s unhoused families and seniors.

“Our unhoused neighbors deserve access to stable, affordable homes, full stop,” said Leora Tanjuatco Ross, Organizing Director of YIMBY Action. “Article 34 is a racist scar in our state constitution. It’s time to get rid of it so we can achieve housing abundance and affordability in California.”

Statement: Pro-Housing Coalition Denounces City of Los Angeles' Illegal Delay of Affordable Housing Project. YIMBY Law Considers Legal Action

Contact: Jae Garner

The Inner City Law Center, Abundant Housing LA, Urban Environmentalists, YIMBY Action, and YIMBY Law denounce the City of Los Angeles’ decision to delay the application and review process for 360 affordable homes at 8217 N Winnetka Ave in Canoga Park today. The coalition aims to ensure these homes and similar projects are approved and streamlined as outlined in the original form of the Mayor’s Executive Directive 1 (ED1).

"We're disappointed in the outcome of today's hearing, but we find ourselves grateful again to Councilmember Nithya Raman for her consistency on housing and standing up for this affordable housing as she did when it was in her Council District last month," said Cynthia Clemons, Field Organizer for Abundant Housing LA.

“Quickly increasing the availability of affordable housing is essential to ending LA’s homelessness and housing crisis. ED1 does just that. But stopping 1,500 affordable homes—proposed without any public subsidies— is irresponsible when every public subsidy for affordable housing is oversubscribed,” said Mahdi Manji, Director of Public Policy at Inner City Law Center. “LA needs innovative ways to build affordable housing. Rejecting these projects is equivalent to rejecting nearly $750,000,000 dollars of public subsidies. We just can’t do that when our families need these affordable homes.”

“It’s the height of hypocrisy that our supposedly climate-conscious leaders have just declined to support affordable infill housing that is within walking distance to a school, groceries, and everything else residents would need to lead a low driving, low carbon lifestyle,” said Joanna Gubman, Executive Director of Urban Environmentalists and Environmental Director at YIMBY Action.

“The city has now said no to affordable housing worth over $750,000,000 that would have helped hundreds of people live in stable, affordable homes without the city having to spend a dime,” said Laura Foote, Executive Director of YIMBY Action. “The idea that the city would say no to low-cost housing at a time when Los Angeles is in dire need of affordable housing is absurd and offensive to the voters who put these leaders in office to address the housing crisis.”

ED1 created a path to streamline the Winnetka project as well as similar projects representing over 1,500 total affordable homes. Instead, the city is illegally forcing them to go through the same laborious and expensive process that has killed countless affordable housing projects in the past.

If these homes are not approved, not only will Los Angeles go without hundreds of much-needed affordable homes, this decision will also stymie similar efforts to build affordable housing in the future by creating unnecessary barriers and ambiguity in the application and review process.
“YIMBY Law is considering legal action, including a lawsuit at this point,” said Sonja Trauss, Executive Director at YIMBY Law. “We’ve spoken with them about the legal and moral implications of going back on their own policy. The city still broke the law, and now they have to be held accountable. Affordable housing can’t wait, especially in Los Angeles.”

Press Release: Pro-Housing Coalition Announces Action at LA Hearing, Urges Mayor's Office to Approve 100% Affordable Housing

Contact: Jae Garner

LOS ANGELES, CA — Los Angeles illegally delayed 1,500 affordable homes after walking back provisions in the Mayor’s Executive Directive 1 (ED1). YIMBY Action, YIMBY Law, Urban Environmentalists, Abundant Housing LA, and Inner City Law Center are rallying at the hearing for two of these housing projects on Tuesday, September 19th. Activists hope the city approves these homes and adjusts the directive to its original form to allow similar projects to be approved in the future.

“Quickly increasing the availability of affordable housing is essential to ending LA’s homelessness and housing crisis. ED1 does just that. But stopping 1,500 affordable homes—proposed without any public subsidies— is irresponsible when every public subsidy for affordable housing is oversubscribed,” said Mahdi Manji, Director of Public Policy at Inner City Law Center. “LA needs innovative ways to build affordable housing. Rejecting these projects is equivalent to rejecting nearly $750,000,000 dollars of public subsidies. We just can’t do that when our families need these affordable homes.”

On December 16th, 2022, Mayor Bass’s office announced the signing of ED1, to dramatically accelerate and lower the cost of building affordable housing. The directive significantly reduced the number of steps required during the approval process for new homes, making many affordable housing projects financially feasible to propose and build. Housing advocates praised this action, and developers have since proposed dozens of projects representing over 7,500 homes under the directive according to city staff.

However, the city revised provisions of ED1 on July 7th to exempt single-family-only zones as well as locations where the city’s General Plan differs from its zoning code. The California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) send the city a technical assistance letter on September 14th urging them “...to expeditiously process all ED1 projects in accordance with the rules and regulations that were in effect at the time the preliminary applications were complete.” 

In addition to blocking future projects in these places from using the streamlining from ED1, the city retroactively applied these new exemptions from ED1 to five projects proposed before the revisions were made. These five projects represent 1,500 affordable homes proposed in single-family-only zones, and other places where the city’s general plan allows more homes on the sites than the city’s zoning code. 

“In this housing crisis, every affordable home is important,” said Cynthia Clemons, Digital and Field Organizer for Abundant Housing LA. “In this case, 1,500 affordable homes are on the table, and we need them as fast as possible.”

Los Angeles is experiencing a severe housing shortage, especially for people with low incomes. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, the Los Angeles metro area has a shortage of over 627,000 affordable homes for people who make 50% of the area median income or less. City records demonstrate that Los Angeles is losing more affordable homes than it builds every year. From 2010 to 2019, the city lost over 111,000 affordable homes and only built 13,000 new ones.

Additionally, UC Berkeley researchers found that building more urban infill is among the most impactful climate actions local jurisdictions can take. Specifically, in the neighborhood of Sherman Oaks where one of the proposed projects is located, building urban infill is the number one most impactful local action they can take. These homes will reduce vehicular emissions by allowing more local workers to live nearby, and by increasing walkability for existing residents.

“We can’t say we are taking real climate action unless we start building infill housing that lets people drive less,” said Joanna Gubman, Environmental Director at YIMBY Action and Executive Director of Urban Environmentalists. “These projects are walking distance from groceries, schools, parks, and more – exactly what we need to stop habitat-destroying sprawl and avoid carbon emissions from cars and concrete.”

YIMBY Action, YIMBY Law, and its pro-housing partners will continue to advocate for Los Angeles to approve these homes and allow similar projects to be streamlined as well.

“By showing up to the hearing, we hope to convince the city to do the right thing and approve these homes,” said Sonja Trauss, Executive Director of YIMBY Law. “If they don’t, YIMBY Law is prepared to take legal action. Affordable housing can’t wait, especially in Los Angeles.”