CA Senate D13 Candidates: M Brownrigg, S Lieber & A Oliva Respond

As I wrote on my blog on January 16th, I emailed all six candidates for CA State Senate District 13 and asked them five questions with an optional sixth one for them to expand on. Three candidates responded. Here are the questions that I collected from readers with the answers submitted by either the candidates or their campaigns:

Question 1 : Governor Newsom has agreed to partner with cities to develop affordable housing on State Owned properties (https://www.gov.ca.gov/2019/04/11/affordable-housing-on-state-owned-property/) Do you support him? Why or why not?

Sally Lieber:

I think it's essential that the State work with local communities to develop housing on State-owned properties and that counties, cities and local agencies do the same. And when publicly owned properties are considered for housing, it should be for a majority affordable housing.

Annie Oliva:

I support protecting tenants by giving them affordable places to rent and affordable homes to buy. I believe Governor Newsom’s plan to develop affordable housing on State-Owned properties is a step in the right direction, but we need to stay focused on the real problem – scarcity in the market. We should still be searching for ways to build new housing quicker with adequate transit, infrastructure and other necessary investments. As a long-time housing advocate, I know there is not one single solution to this complex problem – but releasing state-owned land to help build more affordable housing is certainly a helpful step forward.

Michael Brownrigg:

Yes, absolutely. We broke ground three months ago on a project to build 132 units of affordable housing in a 5 story building in the heart of our downtown on one of our city-owned at-grade parking lots. This was a process I started 5 years ago when I was mayor (and if you think it was easy, you don’t know my city!) The only way the economics worked is for the land to be effectively free. Likewise, at the Peninsula Health Care District 9 acre development site, a number of elected officials (including me) pressed the District to switch from 100% market rate housing for seniors to a 50-50 mix of affordable and market rate senior housing, where the market rate units will subsidize services for all the seniors. This public land subsidy is the only way to make large scale affordable housing work. Now, that said, I still favor requiring private developments to include affordable units since I think there is a strong social argument for ensuring a mix of socio-economic backgrounds in an apartment building, but if we want to see affordable units come in at scale, it really helps to use public land. That’s my real world experience from getting affordable housing BUILT.

Question 2: Do you support a floating community in this district and if so would you be willing to author legislation towards ensuring that the existing floating community continues to exist and even thrive? Why or why not?

Annie Oliva:

I believe in innovative approaches to solve the housing crisis, such as the floating community. I would only be willing to author legislation once I learn more about these communities and their effects on the environment. We must also work to protect our environment, particularly in sensitive areas. But I do believe that if we are creative and bold the answer will be – “We can do both. We can create and preserve housing while protecting our environment.”

Michael Brownrigg:

I assume this is the floating community in Redwood City? I have a strong preference for listening to local city or county leadership when making decisions over local land uses. But I am also reminded of a maxim a European negotiator taught me a long time ago, when I was in the Foreign Service, that if you want to reach the best outcome, "keep an open door and an open mind." So on an issue about which I am not fully informed — like the floating community — I would like to sit down with Redwood City leaders and floating community community leaders to understand the tradeoffs before venturing a firm opinion.

Sally Lieber:

Our existing floating communities should be protected and homeowners should be aided in performing any needed upgrades. Floating communities are a signature part of the Bay Area.

Question 3: What one thing, one action that can be taken, do you see as the beginning of a solution, a lever, to provide “housing for all”, making available housing for residents of all economic levels and reversing the inequities that currently exist in housing, one causative factor being the rampant speculation in housing construction? And would you work toward that goal?

Sally Lieber:

We need strong requirements that new housing be affordable and not just market rate. Most communities on the Peninsula have planned for additional housing, but built only a tiny fraction of the affordable housing that their population requires. We should consider all surface parking lots for transit agencies as possible locations for affordable housing. This would take authorizing legislation.

Michael Brownrigg:

Yes, I would work toward the goal of more affordable housing for people across the socio-economic spectrum. Indeed, this is one of the two main reasons I got in this race (the other being climate). My housing plan combines construction and preservation, with preservation occurring through a robust state program to encourage multifamily buildings that are being sold to be sold to non-profit ownership. This will maintain long run affordability whether there is rent control or not. I have a series of related proposals in this regard. I am absolutely committed to getting more housing built in our communities, especially for low and moderate income individuals.

Annie Oliva:

There simply is not enough money for the state to solve this problem by itself – we need the private sector to step up and build more housing to increase supply. The state has estimated we need 3.5 million new units of housing. At roughly $1 million all in – that is $3.5 trillion dollars, or more than 12 times our existing state budget. We can’t and should not do this just with taxpayer dollars – we need to harness the private sector also. We need innovation and reform at every level to make building housing of all types faster and more affordable. One action that can be taken to do this is support laws that have innovative approaches like backyard cottages, also known as accessory dwelling units. We need more housing. I am running for office in large part to bring my
expertise and passion in this area to Sacramento so we can build more housing while simultaneously authoring and supporting bills that will reverse the inequities that currently exist in the housing market.

Question 4: What is your evaluation of the type and speed of development in our district? Do you believe that the entire community is being represented by current leadership?

Michael Brownrigg:

I think commercial development should be slowed, and residential development should be speeded up. I think we need to work in harmony with city leadership to make this happen, since that will yield faster results that fit in better with each city’s unique characteristics. I think the question on whether “current leadership” is adequately representing the community is too vague, quite candidly, to answer. No offense.

Annie Oliva:

The answer is it is both too fast and too slow at once. We are not building enough housing. But the challenge is we can’t build dramatically more housing until we significantly upgrade our infrastructure, particularly our transit infrastructure. The people who say “build at all costs” need to answer the question of how we are going to move the new residents around on our already congested roads. I am running to make sure that as we build new housing of all types, we also build – at the same time – the transit and the improved roads we need to solve the housing challenge without creating unbreakable traffic gridlock.

Sally Lieber:

Massive gentrification pressures, often coming from speculation, have displaced large numbers of people from the Peninsula. We need strong advocacy for keeping people in the housing that they have and for creating new housing that is affordable at multiple levels. Too often, the follow-through is not there to overcome barriers to affordable housing and the default is to allow market-rate housing that does not even cover the people currently being displaced, let alone the backlog of those waiting for housing.

Question 5: Given that by 2030 San Mateo county is supposed to have 25% ( more than any other CA county) of it’s population over 60 what economic solutions can you come up with to keep them here and not have them move out of the county and/or state?

Sally Lieber:

We need to plan for--and build--housing at multiple income levels and this housing must include compact, well designed housing that is affordable for seniors and workforce housing for caregivers and healthcare workers.

Michael Brownrigg:

SO important! This is one of my key planks. Here are some near term priorities:

— affordable 100% long term care insurance for seniors so that aging in place does not lead to bankruptcy for the senior or his/her family.

— Better mobility options, including autonomous shuttles (a boon to the whole community in fact)
— more affordable housing for seniors — Burlingame is doing a lot in this regard
— more memory cafes and other services for seniors who are beginning to have memory problems
— boosting HIP housing and other home sharing programs to create win-win outcomes for seniors who want to stay in their larger homes but cannot afford expense and those who would like to rent an affordable room
— ability to trade down from large homes to small without triggering Prop 13 taxes (which freeze seniors in place or incent them to cash out and move to another state)

Annie Oliva:

I believe that we all carry a special responsibility to the elders of our community. I want to ensure our District is leading California on creating affordable housing for seniors while also meeting their healthcare needs and creating easily accessible transportationoptions so they can get where they need to go. I am committed to ensuring that all of our the population over 60 have the same access to resources and quality of life asevery other citizen in the District. There are many, many solutions to these challenges – but one innovative solution now being used in San Mateo county and others is the idea of shared housing – so seniors can stay in their homes. The shared housing concept takes empty bedrooms, allows seniors to rent them to help cover housing and other costs, while creating more housing options for other seniors.

Question 6: Anything in particular you would want the voters to know about you? And why?

Annie Oliva:

I want voters to know I will stand up to the special interests who control our state government so we can make real progress on homelessness, traffic gridlock and affordable housing.

As their independent voice, I will:

Declare a state of emergency on homelessness so we can coordinate action, address untreated mental health conditions, create safe shelters and require those shelters be used;
Demand accountability in government, starting with comprehensive and regular audits of all major programs;
Create housing near existing transit, so we can make the Peninsula more affordable without making traffic worse;
Require absolute transparency in government so average citizens can start to break the power of the special interests

Michael Brownrigg:

First and foremost: experience matters. The issues that I think are critical — what I call the ACE Agenda, Affordability, Climate and Education — are not easy to solve. If they were, they would be fixed. Moreover, several of the programmatic solutions will take real courage and conviction to implement. I bring experience, courage, and a track record to my run for State Senate. You don’t have to believe my rhetoric, look at my record in Burlingame on housing, schools, climate and much more (https://0d4a6a2e-2e02-4224-a7a9-b72f0d796a37.filesusr.com/ugd/2e229e_82c1137d7c3c4f4ca0431f454cfb87d1.pdf). I don’t want our Peninsula to become a de facto gated community; I don’t want our oceans to become plastic gyres; I don’t want our planet to burn up; and I want EVERY child to have clean water and a good education. These are some of the pledges I make to you. I get it…and I will get it done.

Sally Lieber:

I am the only candidate in this race with legislative experience, having served for three terms in the State Assembly. I also served as a local City Councilwoman, Mayor and County Commissioner. This experience is essential to serving constituents in this large and diverse Senate district. In the State Assembly, I was very successful and effective at both legislation and resolving constituent concerns.