Letters: Say ‘no’ to California’s failed housing, homeless policies

California residents are feeling the heat these days as Sacramento politicians exert more control over our lives, education, work and play with more wound-inflicting regulations and laws. 

The full impacts have yet to be felt overall, but there are warning signs everywhere.

The most problematic laws reflective of growing state control are the California Legislature’s recent housing and homelessness laws. And this just scratches the surface of what’s in the works this legislative year.

Senate Bill 9 became law in January 2022, officially removing all “local control” over decades-old, thoughtful local zoning and housing plans statewide. 

Gone now is a city’s ability to chart its own course and establish a plan unique to each community, such as establishing building height limits, traffic management and environmental priorities. 

Even the California Coastal Commission, whose charter is to protect California coastal resources, has lost “control” as state housing laws are prioritized over the environment in the name of solving the “housing crisis.” 

Since the so-coined “housing crisis,” basically anything goes for development in California today, including building high-density, multi-family housing in existing single-family neighborhoods and placing accessory dwelling units, or ADUs, along property lines. 

Developers aren’t required to include parking plans for their projects and roads are no longer graded for safety and emergency access. Residents no longer have any say over the future of their communities and neighborhoods, unable to comment on the project next door. 

All of this is gone in California, for now anyway, until these “laws” can be changed and there is more balance in Sacramento leadership (e.g. no more one-party rule). 

The irony here is that beautiful Encinitas, a city incorporated in 1986, separated itself from county control to chart its own course and gain control over land use decisions. 

The historic sign proudly displayed at City Hall may need to come down, replacing it with a sign that reads, “Local politicians surrender to state control.” 

My, elections do have consequences!

Equally problematic, however, is California’s growing homelessness epidemic and statewide legislation known as “Housing First,” where “free housing” is the strategy for dealing with the homeless, with no performance requirements — sobriety requirements, curfews — in exchange for taxpayer-funded housing. 

And it calls for every city to house its fair share of the homeless population in a failed policy costing state taxpayers in excess of $20 billion without tangible results. 

This is wrong and an experiment Encinitas needs to steer clear of.  

2023-Point in Time Count-Regional-Cities-Breakdown

But the city of Encinitas received state and federal grants totaling a whopping $1.6 million in exchange for surrendering control over managing the city’s local homelessness problem.

Taking on failed Housing First policies that require housing the homeless in our Encinitas neighborhoods is a really bad idea. 

Most Encinitans don’t even know it but should get involved before the city becomes another Santa Cruz or Oceanside, with a sizable and troubled homeless population taking up roots in our lovely town. 

Let’s reinstate the need for local control and say “no” to more failed California policies in our beach town. People sitting in Sacramento don’t know what we need. And most of them we never voted for. 

E. Thompson
Encinitas