By Sue Vaughan
The Bay Area’s population is projected to grow by over two million people by the year 2040. The influx of newcomers is already putting major pressure on existing communities and the environment. Luckily for us all, one of the smartest ways to house everyone is also the best bet for the environment: ramping up development of affordable housing in transit-rich urban areas — a strategy that reduces displacement-fueled sprawl that gobbles up open space and necessitates longer car commutes. Our state government and regional planning bodies have already endorsed this approach; now it’s time for us to see it through.
California requires each of the state’s major metropolitan areas to create plans for lowering greenhouse gas emissions from driving. To comply with this law, the Bay Area's regional planning agencies have adopted a strategy for creating sustainable communities and meeting housing needs by creating more compact, mixed-use residential and commercial neighborhoods near transit. This strategy is at the heart of Plan Bay Area, “a transportation and land use roadmap for future growth” in the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area.
Unfortunately, as we’ve reported here in the Yodeler, the areas identified for this compact growth (called Priority Development Areas) are falling behind in housing production — especially for people in low-income brackets. We can track our progress by comparing the number of housing units permitted with regional housing-needs allocations — figures set by the state, based on projected needs, and then distributed among local governments by regional planning agencies in a way that will assist in achieving the goal of compact, sustainable communities. The latest findings show that from 2007 to 2014, the Bay Area met only 29 percent of its target for very-low-income households, 26 percent for low-income households, 28 percent for moderate-income households, and 99 percent for above-moderate-income households.
Another indicator of whether we’re achieving sustainable development is the overall number of vehicle miles traveled. When people live near where they work, shop, and access services — and in areas well served by transit — they drive less, and have a lower carbon footprint. Yet under the newly adopted Plan Bay Area 2040, vehicle miles traveled are projected to increase by 21 percent through 2040. Although Plan Bay Area 2040 includes investments in 460 miles of freeway expansion, there isn’t money available to carry the extra transit riders expected through 2040. Moreover, the plan provides no mechanisms to protect low- and moderate-income renter households from displacement in areas near transit.
While we’re doing a good job at accommodating high-income arrivals, the Bay Area is failing at building and protecting affordable housing. Plan Bay Area sets out the right goals without incorporating the carrots or sticks required to make those goals a reality. The tendency is for municipal governments to permit commercial projects, which generate more property taxes than residential projects, and market-rate and luxury housing, which reaps greater profits than affordable housing. In line with national and state Sierra Club policy, the Bay Chapter has often opposed development projects that don’t include enough affordable housing, aren’t near jobs or transit, include too much parking per unit, or are located in areas vulnerable to liquefaction and sea level rise. But while we may take positions against inefficient and counterproductive developments, we consistently advocate for more affordable housing near a strengthened transit system.
There is one more crucial factor that guides us in our work to create a sustainable, livable, and equitable Bay Area. In the words of our founder John Muir, “Everyone needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray, where nature may heal and give strength to the body and soul.” We must safeguard the little pockets of nature within our cities, as well as the open spaces that surround them, so that as more and more people move into the Bay Area’s urban centers they can still enjoy the wonders of the environment. When people learn to love nature, they become its advocate.
What You Can Do
The Bay Chapter has launched a new effort to work with cities and encourage them to get going on making the sustainable communities strategy a success with infill housing near good transit services. Chapter volunteer leaders will be meeting with city council members to review the situation and press for action. If you want to get involved in this work, email the chair of the Bay Chapter’s Transportation & Compact Growth Committee, Matt Williams, at mwillia@mac.com.
Sue Vaughan is vice-chair of the Bay Chapter's San Francisco Group.
Image: Pedestrians in San Jose Credit Martin Klimek via 2040.planbayarea.org.