Among the approaches discussed were regional plans for urbanization and transit-oriented dense housing, new developer or employer fees, policies related to rent control, and prearranged political agreements on community benefits to fund new housing and mitigate displacement of residents struggling to stay in the area. (Cities in both Santa Clara and San Mateo counties are discussing some of these policy changes, but talks are slow and controversial.)
However, that brings us back to the issue of what might make people care about how a housing crisis plays out long term — even if they already own a home or aren't personally struggling to make rent.
"We will have greater density. We will have smaller living units. We will be far more urban," Gordon said. If not, he cautioned that in a trip down Dystopian Lane, high-flying Silicon Valley could look a lot more like the Rust Belt when the factories closed, with vacant downtowns and sharp population declines.
He insisted that long-term economic arguments about pricing out low- and middle-wage workers often fall on deaf ears when compared to anxiety in the area about traffic gridlock, property values and preserving open space.
"There will be no service workers," Gordon said, recapping familiar arguments about Silicon Valley's high costs undermining the ability of workers like baristas, teachers and firefighters to live here. "We've told the residents these people will not be here. They don't see it because they are here."
The lawmaker took similar issue with the region's much-discussed disconnect between hundreds of thousands of new jobs and lagging new housing starts, calling the argument "too intellectual and too theoretical."
More @ SF Business Times
No comments:
Post a Comment