California Voice: To build more housing, ballot measure easing bond votes is crucial

In California, the will of the majority has historically been vetoed by the will of the minority, especially on issues that impact working-class families and people of color. Since the late 1970s, California’s Constitution has required that local bond measures for housing and infrastructure must meet a two-thirds voter threshold to pass.

This has resulted in difficulty meeting the current needs of Californians, many of whom struggle to pay the rent, live paycheck to paycheck and make painful sacrifices to support their children.

In November, Californians will have an opportunity to remove some of the barriers local governments face when building affordable homes. If approved, Proposition 5 will lower the voter threshold for approving bonds used for housing and public infrastructure from two-thirds to 55%.

This isn’t novel, either. More than two decades ago, California voters approved Proposition 39 to lower the threshold to pass school bonds to 55%. Since then, school districts throughout the state have been able to get voter approval to fund safety improvements and modernize school facilities.

Roughly 44% of Californians are renters, far more than the national average. More than half are rent burdened, according to the California Housing Partnership, including 28% who are severely rent burdened, spending more than half their income on rent. With the state facing a significant shortage of homes, housing costs remain far too high for California families.

Californians agree that affordable housing is an important issue, yet for decades, the state has struggled to deliver on its end of the bargain and provide it. Part of that is due to the procedural barriers that make it more difficult to build affordable housing, especially in affluent areas.

Under Article 34 of the California Constitution, voter approval is required for increasing the number of low-rent housing projects that receive state or federal funding. Local zoning laws have been used to block the creation of affordable housing, a tactic that was invented in Berkeley in 1916 with the introduction of single-family zoning, which was used to block people of color from moving into an affluent neighborhood.

While Berkeley is working to repeal exclusionary zoning and the state has introduced measures to make it easier to develop affordable housing, more needs to be done to address the deficit of 2.5 million homes that has exacerbated our housing affordability crisis.

As mayor of Berkeley, I’m proud of the work we have done to increase housing production, especially affordable housing. In 2018, Berkeley voters approved Measure O, a $135 million bond for affordable housing. Since its passage, 535 units of housing have been built or are in development, with hundreds more coming. In 2010, there were around 1,100 units of affordable housing in Berkeley. That number is expected to nearly double to above 2,000 in the next few years.

Over the last two years, homelessness in Berkeley has decreased by 20%, including a 45% drop in unsheltered homelessness. These achievements could not have been possible without the support of voter-approved measures.

In response to the continued need to develop affordable housing and address homelessness — in addition to modernizing aging infrastructure — in 2022, the city council placed Measure L on the Berkeley ballot. The $650 million bond would have created more than 1,500 units of affordable housing, rehabilitated crumbling roads, improved traffic safety, buried utility wires and revitalized public buildings.

The measure received 59% of the vote, a convincing majority, but not enough to pass.

While it is too late for Berkeley’s Measure L, there are other opportunities ahead.

As Californians, it is our right to tell the government how it should spend our taxpayer funds. If a majority of people believe that general obligation bonds should be issued for critical housing and infrastructure needs, then it should not be blocked by a minority. People may not always agree on everything, but our democratic system allows us to debate the best path forward and collectively implement the will of the people.

Prop. 5 will give more control to the voters in how our money is spent, while making it easier to address some of the most critical issues of our time.

Jesse Arreguin is the mayor of Berkeley and vice president of the Association of Bay Area Governments. Distributed by CalMatters.org.