A fix to CA's housing crisis? New bill package aims to streamline home building

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KGO) -- Bay Area Assemblymember Buffy Wicks lead a group of state lawmakers in Sacramento Thursday.

Wicks bringing forward a legislative package of 22 different bills, all aimed at fixing California's housing crisis by reducing bureaucratic red tape.

"Housing is the number one expense in almost every single household in California. And lack of housing affordability affects every other aspect of our society," Wicks said.

The bill package specifically looks to overhaul the entire permitting process for new housing, from the application to the actual construction.

It's gotten support from many local housing organizations.

That includes the Housing Action Coalition, that says the amount of time it takes to get projects moving wastes millions of dollars.

"When you're dealing with the uncertainty of timelines that it will take to actually get permits, that unnecessary delay causing a lot of extra costs," said the Coalition's Ali Sapirman.

The package also seeking to address delays due to environmental lawsuits.

One part of the bill would exempt construction in already built-up urban areas from these lawsuits.

In the past there has been some opposition to bills such as this, especially from environmental groups.

MORE: Why SF housing construction is still slow after permitting process loosened

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However, with this bill, some groups say it'll actually benefit the local environment.

Jordan Grimes works with Green Belt Alliance, a Bay Area-based environmental nonprofit.

"The standard for environmental review should be different for an oil derrick than it is for an affordable housing project. And that isn't the case right now," Grimes said.

Grimes says while he understands the concerns some environmental groups have regarding housing, he believes leaving things the way they are now will actually cause more ecological harm.

He tells us that due to California's building regulations, the state has continued to expand outward over the past 75 years- pushing people to live in areas more prone to natural disasters and reliant on car use.

Grimes thinks building denser housing closer to major cities would actually reduce pollution over the long term.

"We need to fundamentally rethink how and where we live as a state. And permitting reform really gets at exactly that," he said.

Wicks believes, if passed, the bill package would be one of the most comprehensive overhauls to California's housing rules in years.