Blue states are taking notice of San Francisco's rising crime and homelessness crisis, and similar Democratic legislators are trying to tackle affordable housing in their cities.
Democrats in particular are looking at the effects of the pandemic, which caused housing costs to soar and businesses to relocate. In San Francisco, homelessness remains one of the city's top issues coming out of COVID-19, spurning a revolving door of crime and drug use.
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“Every state in the country other than California is saying, ‘I don’t want to become California,’ and every other city is like, ‘I don’t want to become San Francisco,’" Jenny Schuetz, a senior fellow on urban economics and housing policy at the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program, told Politico.
While San Francisco's housing costs are starting to decline, they are still 52% higher than the state average and 207% higher than the national average. The Bay Area ranks second among the most costly metro areas for home ownership in the country and is one of the most expensive cities for the overall cost of living, per the San Francisco Chronicle.
There are several factors that can be attributed to homelessness, such as health problems, drug use, and domestic violence. However, a lack of affordable housing remains the primary instigator of evictions and homelessness. This contributes to the large population of homeless people in California — 30% of the nation's homeless population lives in the Golden State.
Democratic state legislatures and officials in other states are now inspired to make affordable housing a priority in an effort to combat this issue.
For example, Washington state and Vermont have banned single-family zoning, a rule that eliminated the presence of duplexes, fourplexes, or six-plexes. The new regulation aims to alleviate the rising cost of living burden on families unable to afford their own homes.
Washington passed its law in April, allowing multifamily buildings in nearly every city in the state. Now, at least duplexes must be allowed in all cities, regardless of size. Cities with more than 75,000 people, including Seattle, must allow at least fourplexes, according to the bill.
“When I think of San Francisco, I think of it being an example of the most restrictive land use, which results in it only being accessible to people that have significant wealth in order to be there and to live in that city,” Washington Democratic state Rep. Jessica Bateman said.
In Vermont, Gov. Phil Scott (R-VT) signed a law in early June that effectively banned single-family zoning statewide. Democratic state Sen. Kesha Ram Hinsdale, the bill's author, said she was inspired by personal experience. Hinsdale lived in Los Angeles and her sister had experienced homelessness for several months due to a lack of access to affordable housing in San Francisco's suburbs.
“I look at California as a place where housing instability is just consistently escalating,” Ram Hinsdale told Politico. “When places like San Francisco and liberal bastions in California have held themselves up as the standard for progressive policy, I’ve always felt like it’s a bit of a sham when you think about the many people who experience income inequality in California and can’t afford to meet their very basic needs.”
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San Francisco Mayor London Breed is taking steps to alleviate homelessness in all aspects, a major focal point of her campaign. She announced a $6.5 million plan to end transgender homelessness in early June. The plan includes $6 million in funding for short-term rentals and $500,000 in funding for behavioral science health services.
The city had a plan to build tiny housing for the homeless in a parking lot, but it was derailed over excessive costs and resident complaints in February. Other California cities have urged Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) and his administration to grant $3 billion a year in homelessness funding.