Sacramento, CA… Golden Together, a Movement to Restore the California Dream, led by author and government policy advisor Steve Hilton, unveiled its second policy paper aimed at ending California’s housing shortage and ushering in a new era of housing abundance.  “California’s housing crisis is manmade; with the right reforms our state can end the emergency and usher in a new era of housing abundance”

Click here to view the paper titled “Achieving Universal Housing Affordability”

Last year, Golden Together received Title and Summary for a new voter initiative titled The California Homeownership Affordability Act which would greatly eliminate CEQA lawsuit abuse, one of the single greatest drivers of housing costs and barriers to production. Universal Housing Affordability expands on this proposal to include a suite of detailed policies aimed at moving beyond a state of housing emergency and into one of abundance.

“California’s Housing Crisis is not some natural disaster or unavoidable accident. It is the direct result of policy choices, many of them well-intended, that have combined over the years to make it almost impossible to build homes on the scale we need,” Hilton said. “The good news is these policies can be changed; we can reform the policies which have made housing so expensive. Instead of scarcity, we can have abundance. Instead of politicians telling people where and how to live we can move into a new era of Housing Choice and Homeowner Autonomy. We can solve our debilitating housing crisis with a new approach that is modern, sustainable and more human. We must plan for, and achieve, Universal Housing Affordability. This, our second policy report from Golden Together, shows the way.”Steve

Key points from the policy paper include:

• Eliminating the private right of action under CEQA, and capping Impact Fees, as outlined in the California Homeownership Affordability Act could help expedite the delivery of nearly 1 million homes currently targeted by CEQA litigation and bring down costs.
• Achieving Universal Housing Affordability will require a diverse mix of solutions that include single family homes; by using the latest innovations and technologies, California’s new, 21st century suburban neighborhoods can be designed to be beautiful, and most importantly, sustainable.
• Increasing California’s urban footprint by 1 percent could provide housing for 10 million new residents, all of them living in homes on quarter acre lots (four person households), with an equivalent area set aside for schools, parks, roads, retail and commercial centers.

Golden Together aims to produce a monthly series of reports that will offer substantive analysis of California’s most serious challenges, along with positive and practical, common sense ideas to help solve them.

About Golden Together:
Golden Together is dedicated to promoting positive, practical policy ideas to help solve California’s problems. It’s non-partisan and open to everyone who wants to help restore the California Dream by focusing on common-sense solutions. Learn more about Golden Together at https://goldentogether.com

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