Win For Affordable Housing As SCOTUS Passes On Calif. Case

This is great news for communities struggling with affordable housing crises. SFGate:

Advocates of low-cost housing scored a legal victory Monday when the U.S. Supreme Court left intact a ruling by California’s highest court allowing cities and counties to require builders to include a percentage of affordable units in each new development.

The building industry had argued that those requirements amount to a government confiscation of property and should be allowed only if a particular development would cause a shortage of affordable housing. The state Supreme Court rejected those arguments unanimously in June, and the nation’s high court denied review Monday.

The case involved a San Jose ordinance, passed in 2010 but not yet in effect, that requires developers of 20 or more units to make at least 15 percent of those units affordable to low- or moderate-income buyers and renters.

Yes, the lotteries to get these units will be hellish. But it means some people who work to feed, nanny, bus, and clean up after the dot.com millionaires who can already afford housing in San Jose might not have to commute quite so far. Financial diversity in communities strengthens them. It's worth fighting for and this win at a time when a 4-4 court is a feature is a valued win.