California 100: The Future of Housing & Community Development

Year: 2021

California 100: The Future of Housing and Community Development uses a scenario planning research method to lay out four possible “quadrants” for the future of housing in California, based on the axes of production and equity: 

1. Accelerating Frontierism (housing for private gain and high production of housing)

2. Housing for All (housing for social equity and high production of housing)

3. New Feudalisms (housing for private gain and low production of housing)

4. California Contradictions (housing for social equity and low production of housing).

California faces a housing crisis of extraordinary scale and complexity. There is growing consensus that solving the crisis will require a comprehensive strategy that includes: the PRODUCTION of new housing, the PRESERVATION of units that are affordable to lower-income families, tenant PROTECTIONS to help stem the tide of evictions and displacement, and efforts to redress long standing racial inequities in the housing market. In recent years, political coalitions of builders, renters, environmentalists, labor unions, community groups, and other stakeholders across the state have advocated for more housing. There is a renewed commitment to housing policies and funding at both the state and federal levels, and there is potential for progress to accelerate in the coming years.