Opinion: Plan Bay Area misses the mark for the working class
October 26, 2021
Opinion: Plan Bay Area misses the mark for the working class
If adopted as written, PBA will result in disappearance of working class communities of color
Published in the San Jose Mercury News, October 26, 2021 by Bobbi Lopez of A4ECA.
For decades, Bay Area papers have run opinion pieces agonizing over the changing nature of our region: Can artists in the Mission survive a rental market that caters to unicorn tech firms? If NIMBYs turn out in great enough numbers, will local government ignore the possibility of real supportive housing?
Most of these questions are asked to minimal effect. Not because they aren’t counties are not decided in real time but pre-determined once every five years in a document known as the Plan Bay Area (PBA) — a roadmap for long-term changes to Bay Area cities’ economies, environments, housing and transportation.
Hypothetically, these plans are meant to make the Bay Area more equitable and affordable — the kind of place where people of every race, class and background can carve out a happy life.
But in that — and most — regards, the recently-issued PBA 2050 misses the mark. If adopted as written, the plan will result in the disappearance of the Bay Area’s working class communities of color and displace hundreds of thousands of llong-term residents.
Chief among the challenges facing the Bay Area are the twin crises of affordable housing and homelessness. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a full-time minimumwage worker in our area who can afford a decent two-bedroom apartment. It’s only logical to expect a plan mapping out the next 30 years of equity to address these disasters with an aggressive commitment to social housing.
Chief among the challenges facing the Bay Area are the twin crises of affordable housing and homelessness. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a full-time minimum wage worker in our area who can afford a decent two-bedroom apartment. It’s only logical to expect a plan mapping out the next 30 years of equity to address these disasters with an aggressive commitment to social housing.
Instead, PBA 2050 is stuck in 1981, relying on a wildly outdated form of magical thinking called trickle-down economics to justify its endorsement of for-profit development. I suppose its authors have turned a blind eye to corrupt real estate developers who have spent decades gentrifying our neighborhoods with fancy condominiums suited for the ultra-rich.
If the plan promises to build social equity, pursue social justice and invest in environmentally sustainable growth, there are a few essentials missing.
First, we need a detailed strategy to fund tens of thousands of housing units and temporary facilities that are essential to ending homelessness in the Bay Areawithin the decade.
As written, PBA 2050 fails to detail any clear land-use policies that would protect “communities of concern” from being forced from their homes. It should mandate that at least 50% of new housing developed on publicly-owned property be affordable for lower- and middle-income households.
Finally, we need to get smart about the placement of market-rate housing. I’m not knocking commercial sector growth, but we must meet the needs of new workers flooding into the Bay Area without disrupting the neighborhood life of existing communities.
Our region is home to hundreds of miles of empty shopping mall parking lots. With a little political will, that wasted blacktop could transform into new, market- rate apartment buildings, parks and small businesses — without displacing anyone.
If the plan written 30 years ago had included a contingency plan for homelessness — a strategy to support working people when the cost of rent outpaced the minimum wage — perhaps we wouldn’t be facing the crisis on our streets today.
The Bay Area is home to some of the richest people in the history of the world. It’s only right that every person living here is afforded their human right tohousing. We need our political leaders to be better than their predecessors. We need a new model in urban responsibility.
Do better. Write a plan for the Bay Area that firmly establishes safe, decent, accessible and affordable housing as a fundamental right.
Bobbi Lopez is policy director at Advocates for Empowerment CA and co-founder of the San Francisco Latino Democratic Club.