☆ COPA defeat fallout: Is the era of hyper-regulated housing market in SJ mercifully over?
The rejection of the SJ Housing Dept's overly complex COPA proposal at the Community and Economic Development Committee on March 27 marked a turning point. And it makes local housing provider Dean Hotop wonder if the city is finally putting an end to punitive, heavy-handed regulations that have only made the housing crisis worse. An Opp Now exclusive.
For years, if not decades, there has been an ongoing debate on how to solve the housing shortage (aka ‘crisis’) in San Jose. One side of the debate calls for more government regulation of the housing market, and the other side calls for encouraging more supply of housing units, by private investment activity, to relieve the shortage.
Those calling for more regulation of housing have been winning the debate where it matters most: with past City Councils willing to pass any staff-proposed legislation in order to show they were doing ‘something’.
Since 2015, San Jose’s City Council has enacted or changed the following housing regulations, to no avail in relieving the housing shortage:
Reducing rent control from 8%/year to 5%
Eliminating two-year banking
Eliminating debt-service pass-throughs
Eliminating most capital improvement pass-throughs
Eliminating billing tenants for their utility usage
Tenant Protection Ordinance
Rent Registry
Mandatory Section 8 & other voucher acceptance
Ellis Act Ordinance (making it economically infeasible to redevelop)
Three-tiered Code Enforcement Inspections/Fees
Inclusionary Housing Ordinance (or in-lieu fees) for new construction
COVID rent freeze
COVID eviction moratorium
A refreshing breath of fresh air
The results achieved from this non-stop barrage of regulations, aimed specifically at the small market housing providers (aka Mom & Pop Landlords), has not made one ounce of progress in solving the housing shortage crisis. The demand for housing still outpaces the supply of units in San Jose, a situation which has persisted since the 1970s!
These results are why it was a refreshing breath of fresh air to finally hear three council members, at last week’s CED Committee meeting, speak against yet another destructive, punitive housing regulation and vote against accepting the Housing Department staff’s report on COPA.
To hear consistent comments about ‘new supply of housing is needed’ from these council members seems to indicate the era of virtue-signaling, heavy-handed legislation is over, and the need for REAL solutions to the housing shortage crisis is finally being acknowledged.
A new assignment
During last week’s CED meeting, Councilmember Batra very eloquently, and gracefully, acknowledged the Housing Department’s work that went into creating the proposed COPA program. He stated that they did not do a bad job on their assignment; rather, they simply “were given the wrong assignment.” He then reiterated the need for new housing supply.
Let’s hope this new council will consider all options for a new assignment to create more housing supply. Repealing San Jose’s Ellis Act Ordinance would make a significant stride in that direction.
For more from Hotop, check out the following articles:
Establishing a balanced housing policy that addresses the simultaneous benefits of re-development and preservation
How COPA will weaken the free market, drive up housing stock costs, and disempower local homebuyers
The unintended consequences of the Ellis Act, which tries to "preserve" affordable housing
How the SJ Housing Dept appears to be raiding Measure E funds for another expenditure—handouts to the local nonprofit housing cabal
How the SJ Housing Dept's wild misspending is linked to increasing crime and lawlessness
What COPA really is, in its essence, along with some alternatives
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