HomeMy WebLinkAbout08. (Handout) Mayors' Conference Policy Framework on Emerging Housing Legislation i
C NTRA COSTA
Policy Framework on Emerging Housing Legislation
The Contra Costa Mayors Conference (Conference) is an organization comprising the
mayors of the nineteen cities of Contra Costa County acting in the interest of their cities.
The Conference works collaboratively to share information, deliberate, and recommend
positions on issues of regional and local significance.
As an association of local elected officials committed to serving the public,the Contra
Costa mayors, with the support of Contra Costa city and county managers, has closely
reviewed and discussed the implications of recent efforts at both the regional and state
level to address the housing crisis, including the CASA Compact and numerous pieces of
proposed State legislation on housing that have emerged. Based on this analysis and
given the rapid rate in which housing legislation is moving through the State legislative
process,the Contra Costa Mayors' Conference at their May 2, 2019 meeting adopting
the following housing policy framework as a basis for ongoing advocacy work.
RECOMMENDATION
Position_Statement: Contra Costa cities recognize and fully endorse the need for
increased housing opportunities- especially for people earning below the area median
income. While we appreciate its intent,the CASA Compact is a high-level document
with only limited detail. Small and medium sized cities, representing 66% of the Bay
Area population, were not well represented in its creation.
Given this situation,the Contra Costa Mayors Conference wants to ensure that their
member cities' voices are heard as the details of legislation are being crafted and
encourages MTC, ABAG, and the State Legislature to collaborate with all cities on all
housing legislation so that we may collectively formulate feasible solutions to address
the Bay Area's housing needs. Therefore, it is the consensus of the Contra Costa Mayors'
Conference that:
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Balanced Solutions—Housing,Jobs, and Transportation
1. We support solutions that take a balanced approach and consider the needs of housing,
transportation/transit, and jobs together (never one at the expense of the others).
Building housing without adequate transportation or other infrastructure would
exacerbate- not alleviate-the affordable housing crisis.
2. We support policies that encourage a jobs-housing balance as a .strategy to lower
vehicle miles traveled (VMT) and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and oppose policies
that exacerbate it.
3. We support additional investments in transportation infrastructure and technology to
expand the Bay Area transit network to provide connections from job centers to existing
as well as planned future housing.
4. We support efforts to ensure that housing and jobs are equitably distributed across
cities and counties (no exempt areas).
Provide, Promote, and Protect Affordability
5. We support every city's ability to establish tenant protections, as they deem
appropriate for their residents.
6. We support incentives that will streamline the production. of new accessory dwelling
units (ADUs) while allowing local agencies to count ADUs - by right- as very low, low, or
moderate units in the RHNA attainment reporting process.
Context Sensitive Housing
7. We support maintaining local control of land use and the entitlement process. We urge
the State to recognize that cities.control only the entitlement process and have no
ability to produce housing, which is a developer- and market-driven process. Therefore,
cities should be measured by the number of entitlements approved when calculating
RHNA attainment and not be penalized for private sector failure to produce housing.
8. We oppose top-down or one-size-fits-all approaches to land-use decision-making,
including those mandating residential densities, building heights,development intensity,
and parking.
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Infrastructure and Services
9. We support removing certain barriers to planning communities for all and,ensuring that
adequate resources are available for existing and new infrastructure (e.g., roads,
schools, parks) and municipal services (e.g., public safety) to serve our growing
population.
10. We support utilizing existing local housing authorities — which are more familiar with
needs of their sub region - to serve as the governance structure that administers new
affordable housing funds and monitors housing production, rather than establishing yet
another state or regional agency to take on that role.
Funding and Resources
11. We support legislation that will return e-commerce/internet sales tax revenue to the
point of sale — not the point of distribution as currently mandated — to provide cities
that have a significant residential base with a commensurate fiscal stimulus for new
housing.
12. We support Governor Newsom's investments proposed in the State budget and other
new State funding that will benefit California cities by including a substantial increase in
State funding for affordable and workforce housing and that address the growing
homelessness crisis in our state.
13. We oppose any diversion of existing revenue sources from cities.
The Contra Costa Mayors Conference is grateful for the State Legislature's leadership on
these difficult issues and looks forward helping to ensure that new housing legislation is
crafted in a manner that is compatible with - and supports the diversity of—all local
communities. We invite State officials to partner with cities, small and large,to find
solutions that address the housing shortage effectively and timely.
Adopted by the Mayors Conference May 2, 2019
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