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WAKE UP IS DIFFERENT
We are the only organization mapping the full scale of housing policy’s effects, and connecting the dots between them. Where others see separate fights, we see one picture.
We hear you. These are exasperating times. Communities are outraged, and rightly so. We need to turn that outrage into action. WAKE UP offers real information about housing laws and policies and how they are interacting with development around you. Our meetings are for newcomers, activists, experts in related fields, local electeds — all welcome.
PROBLEMATIC, FAILED, ABANDONED
Density bonuses are encouraging outrageous oversized projects that overwhelm communities.
The SF Marina Safeway Project, left.
Newsom steps up rhetoric and punishes cities acting in good faith
The state has filed lawsuits against five California cities, including Half Moon Bay, even as some communities say they are actively working toward compliance. The actions raise broader questions about how California balances housing mandates with local circumstances and good-faith efforts. We’re seeing the first wave of cities hit with punishments, in spite of their extenuating circumstances.
See BLOG page for more.
BERKELEY AS A CASE STUDY: 3 minute video
Empty sidewalks. Big hole in the ground.
In 3 minutes by Todd Darling shows exactly how the new laws are enabling the devastation of Berkeley and its livability. Check out the Build a Better Berkeley site: https://www.buildabetterberkeley.org More videos are on BLOG page
Streamlining ISN’T creating affordability
It’s creating a mess.
Loss of modest starter homes to luxury condos means fewer people have the chance to own anything or build generational wealth.
Good policy means better outcomes
Communities Must Shape Their Own Growth
Local residents understand and care about:
- Fire and evacuation realities
- Infrastructure limits
- Treasured historical resources
- Environmental constraints
- Community needs
Cities should retain the authority to plan, not just process applications.
Count Affordability First
Housing policy should consider how many people are served, and at what cost. Instead, the state assigns unachievable unit targets, and twists the numbers: a studio apartment, a two bedroom condo, a five bedroom house, and a fifty bed care facility are all counted as a single unit, regardless of the number of people housed. Affordability isn’t part of the total count.
Developers must be accountable stakeholders
If private entities are granted public power, they must:
- Participate in community solutions, not override them.
- Provide enforceable affordability
- Share long-term responsibility for impacts
Profit should follow public benefit—not replace it.
WAKE UP TO THE LAWS AND POLICIES PUTTING US AT RISk
Housing Mandates Ignore Public Safety
Density = Structure to Structure Spread
CAN WE GET OUT SAFELY?
Housing is being approved in wildfire, flood, and earthquake zones without verified evacuation capacity or infrastructure readiness. Streamlining laws let huge projects get fast approvals without impact studies, community input, or long term planning. We can meet housing needs without gambling with public safety.
DENSITY ALLOWS FIRE TO SPREAD RAPIDLY
The huge mandates and density demands force cities to make impossible decisions: Approve developments that impact public safety or face lawsuits, fines, and further loss of local land use control. Our local governments must be able assess:
- Verified evacuation capacity, based on realistic congestion and emergency scenarios
- Infrastructure readiness: water, roads, emergency response, drainage
- Hazard-aware siting: wildfire, flood risk, seismic exposure, and access constraints
- Environmental contamination and degradation
WAKE UP TO THE LAWS AND POLICIES ruining our land
Don’t take the protected environment for granted
CEQA AND THE COASTAL COMMISSION KEPT OUR STATE LIVABLE AND BEAUTIFUL
California is undergoing a sea change; our state’s long-protected pride in clean environment has shifted to a cynical opening for exploitation. Newsom exempted advanced manufacturing from CEQA through a budget trailer bill, and a Chamber of Commerce ballot initiative — PROP 45 — is moving to gut CEQA statewide — while the Coastal Commission faces attacks from both Sacramento and Washington. Environmental review and local coastal control are being dismantled on three fronts at once.
The declaration of housing as a “Matter of Statewide Concern,” with a “Housing Crisis at All Levels” has demonized impact studies and environmental concerns as a cause of our housing crisis. Opening sensitive and contaminated areas for development has not solved our actual affordability crisis.
OUR TOWNS AND COMMUNITIES ARE UNIQUE; ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL
