Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) issued an executive order on Wednesday that exempts fire-torn areas of Los Angeles from a landmark housing law that allows property owners to build duplexes on land reserved for single-family homes.
Newsom’s executive order would let the city of Los Angeles, LA County, and Malibu, California, restrict construction allowed under the 2021 law, which allowed lots to be split up to four housing units.
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When Senate Bill 9 went into effect in 2022, it was hailed as one of the biggest and most controversial housing laws to affect residents in years. Supporters said it would ease the state’s severe housing shortage by increasing the amount of housing available to Californians, while critics claimed that it would strip away the ability to control density and lead to the end of suburbs.
Newsom’s executive order applies to areas that burned in January’s Palisades and Eaton fires and that have been designated by the state’s Department of Forestry and Fire Protection as “very high fire hazard severity zones.”
“We will continue to assist communities in rebuilding safely in ways that are responsive to local concerns,” Newsom said in a statement. “This executive order responds directly to requests from local officials and community feedback, recognizing the need for local discretion in recovery and that not all laws are designed for rebuilding entire communities destroyed by fires overnight.”
The governor’s executive order comes after pressure from Los Angeles elected officials who argued there would be “an unforseen explosion of density” in risky areas.
“When SB 9 was adopted into state law, it was never intended to capitalize on a horrific disaster,” City Councilmember Traci Park wrote in a letter asking Newsom to suspend SB 9 in some areas. “Given the widespread destruction of the Pacific Palisades, its topography, and limitations to infrastructure, ingress, and egress, I am requesting that SB9 and other laws permitting increases in density be suspended until such time an analysis can be conducted to determine the capacity of our evacuation routes and infrastructure can adequately accommodate this increased density.”
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass also weighed in with her support.
“While Senate Bill 9 was passed to support the creation of more housing across California – something that our state desperately needs – legislators in Sacramento could not have foreseen the bill’s impact on the Palisades community as it works to rebuild from one of the worst natural disasters in state history,” she said in a statement. “More than 5,000 single-family homes were damaged or destroyed in the devastating Palisades Fire. The ability for developers to use SB 9 to change recently destroyed single-family home lots into multiple residences could drastically further challenge ingress and egress in a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone (VHFSZ) following the worst fire disaster the city has ever faced.”
Bass added that such a move “could fundamentally alter the safety of the area by straining local infrastructure.”
“I oppose this usage as it relates to rebuilding in the Palisades, and I look forward to continuing to work with Governor Newsom and state leaders to advocate for the Palisades community and identify a path forward as we continue to rebuild,” she said.
Despite the pushback on SB9 by some critics, only a few projects in the Los Angeles area have benefited from it.
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A study from UC Berkeley’s Terner Center for Housing Innovation found that during the first year the law was in place, the city received 211 applications for new units and 28 applications for lot splits. San Francisco received only 32 construction applications under SB9. San Jose has gotten 37, and Oakland has received only five.