San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan speaks during a California gubernatorial candidate forum at the Skirball Cultural Center.
(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)
Mahan says the high cost of housing is pushing Californians out of the state and is the leading cause of homelessness.
To address these issues, Mahan wants to reduce development fees for infill housing and prevent cities from imposing “excessive sales or transfer taxes on new infill housing” like Los Angeles’ Measure ULA, a UCLA-RAND Corp. study that found that apartment construction in the city has declined.
Mahan wants to mandate that cities process permits in less than 30 days and, if they fail, allow developers to use “appropriately qualified and licensed third-party planners and building inspectors to review permits.”
Another proposal is to “make the building of California homes in California factories the centerpiece of the state’s industrial strategy.” Building this way could be cheaper than building on site, and would support the creation of great modular housing factories by providing incentives to build them.
Mahan also wants to reform a law, Senate Bill 800, which he says makes it too risky for developers to build condominiums that serve as an entry into home ownership, and provide more down payment assistance.
When it comes to homelessness, Mahan wants to get people in quickly by providing more interim beds that can be built cheaper and quicker than building permanent housing, and proposes making changes to state housing law to incentivize cities to build such interim shelters.
He also says that fines or prison sentences for sleeping on the streets are cruel if there is no offer of shelter, but he supports such penalties for people who repeatedly reject available accommodation.
Mahan wants to make the state’s Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention Grant permanent and fund it at $1 billion per year.
