S.F. Bay Area City Says It Wants More Housing—But Votes Down Project

J.K. Dineen reports on a recent city council decision in San Bruno, California, that killed the proposal for Mills Park Plaza, a mixed-use project that would have included 425 housing units and a grocery store. 

"The project’s rejection was held up by housing advocates as an example of a broken housing approval process in California. Even when cities say they want housing — and developers meet the community’s every demand and whim — decisions driven by fear of growth can kill projects after millions of dollars and years of energy have been sunk into them," writes Dineen.

He notes that San Bruno is far from reaching the state housing goal of 1,155 units by 2023, as the city has built only 119 units since 2016. Housing advocates argue that actions such as the one in San Bruno amount to housing obstruction at the local level and point to the need for planning oversight to occur at the state level.