Statewide Campaign Sounds Alarm on California Prop 33 to Repeal Costa Hawkins

Calling the measure “deeply flawed,” affordable housing advocates and a bipartisan coalition of local leaders across California are sounding the alarm on Prop 33, the new name for the Justice for Renters Act intended to repeal Costa Hawkins and slated to appear on ballots statewide in November. A similar measure was defeated by voters in 2018 and 2020.

“We’re facing a severe housing and homelessness crisis, and this ballot measure will worsen it,” said Corey Smith, executive director of Housing Action Coalition. “It will make it harder to build affordable housing at a time when we need it most, and it will make it more difficult for people experiencing homelessness to find housing.”

According to a release from No on Prop 33, economists and housing experts at Stanford and UC Berkeley have said the measure will worsen California’s housing crisis by reducing the construction of new affordable housing, giving NIMBYs new ways to block affordable housing and overturning state laws that require more affordable housing to be built. California Apartment Association, California YIMBY and more than 80 additional organizations and county and local leaders have endorsed No on Prop 33.