Special Notice / Hearing: None__
Vote Required: Majority
To: Honorable Board of Supervisors
From: Supervisor Noelia Corzo, District 2
Subject: Study Session on Article 34 and its impacts on Housing in San Mateo County
RECOMMENDATION:
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Study Session: Article 34 and its impacts on housing in San Mateo County.
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BACKGROUND:
A. Article 34
Article XXXIV of the California Constitution ("Article 34"), adopted by California voters in 1950 with 50.78% of the vote, imposes a voter approval requirement for certain affordable housing projects, unless an exception applies. Article 34 provides that no "low-rent housing project" shall be "developed, constructed, or acquired" by any "state public body" without first putting the project to a vote of the qualified electorate.
Article 34 was placed on the ballot in 1950 by the California Real Estate Association (now known as the California Association of Realtors or C.A.R.). In 2022, C.A.R. explicitly apologized for its role in passing Article 34 and for the discriminatory impact Article 34 has had. By requiring a public vote before any low-rent housing project could proceed, Article 34 gave wealthy, white communities a formal mechanism to block racially integrated housing without explicitly invoking race. Despite this history and its present-day impact, Article 34 remains intact and is the only state constitutional amendment of its kind in the United States.
Over the decades since Article 34's adoption, the State Legislature has enacted a series of statutory exemptions that have narrowed its reach. As a result, many affordable housing projects developed in California today proceed without an Article 34 vote. Nonetheless, Article 34 has a continued impact in hindering public agencies-including those in San Mateo County-from adequately addressing housing needs.
B. Ballot Measures Authorizing Affordable Housing Unit Banks
In response, numerous public agen...
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