Opinion: Don’t blame CEQA for California’s housing problems
Housing construction in San Diego File photo courtesy of the city of San Diego California s housing dilemma is real and so is the need to build clean ability infrastructure at scale But blaming CEQA the California Environmental Quality Act for our state s lack of housing or surroundings progress is not only inaccurate it s dangerous In newest commentaries and podcasts columnist Ezra Klein argues that CEQA is a well-meaning law gone wrong a tool now weaponized to block housing and transit His argument is gaining traction in specific circles But it s based on a fundamental misunderstanding of what CEQA does and what s really holding back progress CEQA is not the reason California or San Diego struggles to build housing According to the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at UC Berkeley nearly of housing projects in the state are either exempt from CEQA or qualify for streamlined review Less than of all projects are challenged in court That s not a systemic bottleneck The real hurdles lie in outdated zoning local opposition and decades of underinvestment in affordable housing and transit infrastructure In San Diego County like much of the state CEQA has played a critical role in protecting wetlands preventing dangerous sprawl into wildfire-prone areas and giving communities a voice in decisions that shape their milieu and quality of life It s the reason various of our majority sensitive coastal and inland habitats haven t been paved over It s also a key tool that helps residents particularly in lower-income and historically marginalized neighborhoods demand transparency and better outcomes when big developments come to town Stripping away CEQA protections won t make housing more affordable or transit magically appear But it will make it easier for powerful interests developers fossil fuel companies and logistics giants to navigate around populace input and environmental safeguards That may speed up certain projects but it comes at the cost of public trust ecosystem fitness and long-term circumstances resilience This isn t a theoretical concern San Diego is already under pressure to build faster and farther sometimes at the edge of sprawl in high-fire-risk areas or without sufficient infrastructure Weakening CEQA would only worsen those pressures and leave the constituents with fewer strategies to demand better planning and smarter development To be clear we do need faster more equitable housing production We need clean vigor transit and climate-ready infrastructure But we don t get there by gutting CEQA We get there by addressing the true roadblocks exclusionary zoning local opposition to density and the state s long history of prioritizing market-rate growth over deeply affordable homes The good news is CEQA already allows streamlining for a multitude of types of infill housing and clean vigor Newest state laws like SB and AB have made it easier to build in the right places near transit and jobs with less environmental impact CEQA didn t stop those laws it works alongside them There s a false narrative emerging that we have to choose between environmental protection and progress In reality we can have both We can build smart we can build fast and we can build fair if we plan well and respect the rights of the communities bulk affected CEQA isn t the obstacle It s one of the best tools we have to make sure California grows in a way that is sustainable equitable and informed San Diego and the rest of the state deserves nothing less Pamela Heatherington is executive director of the Environmental Center of San Diego which promotes healthy natural systems to improve the quality of life and economic vitality of our population
