Quick Take
Mission Hill Middle School student Gavin Roth argues that California’s housing crisis threatens his generation’s future and calls on Assemblymember Gail Pellerin to vote yes on Senate Bill 79. The bill would legalize mid-rise apartments near major transit hubs to cut emissions, fight urban sprawl and create more affordable housing for families and teachers. Roth says SB 79 would also improve kids’ mental health, access to schools and opportunities by reducing housing insecurity. After abstaining from an earlier vote, Pellerin still has a chance to support the measure when it returns to the Assembly.
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I am an eighth grader at Mission Hill Middle School and I’m writing about something a lot of kids my age consider pretty boring – a California state Senate bill.
This is not the type of thing that gets my friends excited, but it is crucial to their and my future. Growing up in Santa Cruz, I’ve seen friends have to move to lower-cost cities because housing prices are just too high. I am also well aware that I might not be able to stay in Santa Cruz as an adult. To take this issue head-on, we must build more housing across California.
The law in question, Senate Bill 79, legalizes mid-rise apartments near subways, commuter rail, bus rapid transit and light rail stations. SB 79 would fight climate change, improve my peers’ mental health and promote opportunity for all students.
That’s why I support it and ask our legislators to vote yes on the vote, which will likely happen Friday.
Here’s my argument. To start, SB 79 takes bold action on climate change. The largest source of emissions for most California families is transport, mostly from cars. Building housing near frequent and reliable public transport gives Californians the option to get out of traffic and onto clean trains and buses, greatly reducing their emissions. SB 79 protects the environment in another way, too. Research shows that by building in urban areas, we de-incentivize urban sprawl. Climate action is urgent, especially for my generation, which bears the most brutal consequences of a warming globe. SB 79 is a giant leap toward building a greener California.
SB 79 also combats a growing mental health crisis among California’s kids. The bill encourages active transportation such as biking and walking. These activities are found to increase “happy chemicals” and decrease stress, anxiety and depression. Additionally, people who live near transit are much more likely to bike or walk a part of their commute. An abundance of research shows people who live in the kinds of communities SB 79 would create have better overall health. All Californians, especially growing kids, should be able to afford a healthy lifestyle; SB 79 makes that a reality.
SB 79 builds on student success and opportunity. Homeless and housing-insecure students face steep challenges to success. They often don’t have a quiet place to study and lack means of transportation. SB 79 curtails this by allowing the construction of thousands of stable homes – reducing the amount of housing-burdened kids.
It also encourages development near transit that students can ride independently to access resources like libraries and study cafés. SB 79 also improves schools by supporting teachers with greatly needed housing and allowing them to live in the communities they teach. Furthermore, millions in new property taxes will be funneled to public schools under SB 79.
Sliding student performance in schools is a complex issue, but SB 79 would help to alleviate critical flaws in our housing and transport systems, and improve the education of me and my peers.
There has regrettably been a great deal of misinformation about SB 79, from critics saying it would apply to the Pacific Palisades or would require no affordable housing. These claims are simply untrue, serve to reinforce the status quo and benefit only one group: wealthy homeowners.
SB 79 upzones around the highest-frequency transit to build more housing.
SB 79’s urgency is especially salient on the Central Coast – even if it won’t apply here. The Central Coast is on the front line of a climate emergency, causing rising seas and more severe natural disasters. We know cutting emissions is needed. SB 79 provides a way to do that without further constraining tight local and state budgets.
The City of Santa Cruz is on track to meet its goals to build hundreds of homes over the next few years, but other jurisdictions are slacking. SB 79 will force cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco to live up to their promises and build the housing California needs.
The Central Coast is at the tip of the spear when it comes to the climate and housing crises. To tackle these critical issues, all of California must work together to say yes to action, yes to SB 79.
SB 79 is a bill that demonstrates the housing crisis is the everything crisis. We, California’s kids, need bold action. SB 79 is that action. By building housing near transit, we can fight the climate, mental health and education crises that are strangling my generation head-on.
Yet, it often seems that the people this bill would benefit – generations down the line – are disregarded. Decisions that will decide if I even have a future are made by people who will be long gone when the consequences of keeping the status quo take effect.
SB 79 will go before votes in the state Senate and Assembly this Friday. In April, our senator, John Laird, the tipping-point vote, voted yes, solidifying his environmental legacy. However, on Aug. 29, in a showing of political cowardice, our assemblymember, Gail Pellerin, refused to vote on SB 79. Pellerin still has a chance to vote yes on SB 79, follow Laird’s lead, and show she truly cares about an affordable California.
Tell her to vote yes by using this tool.
We’ve all heard it before, but I beg our representatives to think of the kids, stand up for our future, don’t capitulate to “Not In My Backyard” voices, and vote yes on SB 79.
Gavin Roth is an eighth grader at Mission Hill Middle School in Santa Cruz. He helps lead Santa Cruz YIMBY and is vocal about housing, transit, climate, gun control and justice issues.