Dear friends,

Residents in some of the wealthiest, most exclusive neighborhoods in California are abusing historic preservation rules in an attempt to block the construction of more inclusive and affordable housing in coastal California communities.

California YIMBY is fighting back – and the NIMBYs are not happy.

We're sponsoring Asm. Buffy Wicks's AB 2580, which requires local governments to monitor how new historic designations could impact their ability to meet housing needs under existing state law. Under AB 2580, cities would have to report new historic buildings and district designations to the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD).

AB 2580 has strong support in the legislature. It passed the Assembly last month. It passed the Senate Housing Committee last week. But NIMBYs are mobilizing to lobby Senators to try and stop it. We need your help to show Senators their constituents support this important bill.

Will you send a message to your Senator? Vote YES on AB 2580 and help get more housing built by tackling abuse of historic preservation rules!
SEND A MESSAGE >>

Historic preservation plays a vital role in protecting California's architectural heritage and conserving places of historic significance.

Historic districts, and buildings designated as "historically significant," receive special protections that subject new developments, building renovations, and design changes to a more rigorous and thorough review process to protect the integrity of the historic elements.

However, the process for designating a building as "historically significant," or creating a new historic district, encourages abuse by individuals and small local groups who seek to prevent more inclusive and affordable housing development. That's what happened in San Mateo, Los Angeles, Berkeley, San Francisco, – and in other cities all over California.

NIMBYs are afraid clear reporting of new historic designations will highlight how the abuse of historic preservation impedes our housing goals -- which is exactly why we need this bill. Accountability is one of the first steps towards ensuring historic preservation is applied only where appropriate, and not used to impede housing.

This abuse of the historic designation process impedes or blocks urgently-needed housing – even when a majority of elected officials or residents support the construction of more homes.

There are also currently no measures in place to ensure local governments balance legitimate historic preservation with potential impacts on a community's ability to meet its housing needs.

Because of the interaction between state and federal rules, tackling the abuse of historic preservation rules requires several steps. AB 2580 is a crucial first step, and it just passed the Assembly. Will you help us pass it in the State Senate?

Send a message: Tell your Senator to vote YES on AB 2580 to bring accountability to the use of historic preservation – and help build more homes across California!

Thank you for taking action to stop NIMBYs and build more housing.

Gratefully,

Emily

Emily Jones
Campaign and Coordination Manager
California YIMBY

California YIMBY is a movement dedicated to ending our state’s housing crisis and building a more inclusive, affordable, and accessible state for ALL Californians. If you were forwarded this email, you can join our movement here. DONATE NOW » Want to keep track of housing issues and the YIMBY movement? Sign up for the HomeWork, our newsletter here.

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