Friday Roundup 10-8-21

In September, California passed SB 10, which allows cities to “upzone” and permit greater housing density in neighborhoods previously zoned for single-family homes. A “housing justice” organization, AHF, has filed a lawsuit that asserts “allowing legislators to override zoning restrictions violates the constitutional right of initiative by allowing local government to repeal or disregard initiative measures put in place by the voters.” AHF believes that voters should be allowed to enact any type of restrictions they choose, including prohibiting greater housing density. Interestingly, a division of AHF is called Housing is a Human Right. So, on one hand AHF wants government to provide everyone with a home. On the other hand, it wants voters to dictate where that housing can be built.

Lawmakers in Washington have introduced a bill titled Keeping Renters Safe Act of 2021. The bill would give the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) the authority to impose a residential eviction moratorium to address public health crises. Further, the bill directs HHS to implement a national eviction moratorium in response to the COVID pandemic that remains in effect for at least sixty days after the crisis ends. Landlords have already suffered through a year of moratoriums (and in some locales even longer). This bill will prolong the agony indefinitely.

During the pandemic, governments across the world have assumed draconian measures to stop the spread of COVID-19. Some of the worst of these rights violating policies occurred in Massachusetts, where the governor issued a series of decrees that generally banned all private gatherings, even in private homes, after 9:30 p.m. unless the assembly was for a political or religious purpose. The orders were challenged in court, and in late 2020 the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts uphold the dictates, stating that slowing the spread of COVID involved a “significant government interest.” As illustrated by the governor’s decrees, “significant government interest” is an arbitrary standard that can be used to justify nearly anything.