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Proposed state housing policies that seek to brand single-family home ownership in Southern California as exclusionary are making it more difficult to solve the region’s housing woes, some local officials say—but supporters are defending the policies as necessary to correct historical biases in the market.
The officials, who are regional council members of the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG), say the agency is focusing too much on social justice and equity measures while addressing local housing needs. SCAG is responsible for implementing state affordable housing mandates for 191 cities throughout the region.
Anaheim City Councilman Trevor O’Neil suggested the state is using social inequity as a way to usher in housing projects that aren’t financially feasible or that many local communities simply don’t want.
“This is all part of the assault on single-family zoning that we’ve seen over the last few years,” O’Neil told The Epoch Times. “We always have bills in the legislature that want to erode local control, and force lot splits and multiple units on a lot.”
He cited three presentations at a March 4 SCAG Joint Policy Committee meeting—on housing, transportation, and economic inequality—that he said focused primarily on social equity issues instead of addressing current housing needs.
Read the rest of the story on The Epoch Times
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