OP|ED - If anyone asks what my priority issues are in the legislature, I talk about the three Hs - housing, homelessness, and healthcare. I have talked with neighbors in every corner of this district, and those were the most common issues that came up. Some are frustrated with out of sync housing developments, some heartbroken that they raised their kids in this community and those kids can’t afford to live here anymore.
As children and grandchildren leave our community, it’s clear we have to tackle our housing affordability crisis - but it must be done in a balanced way to ensure local voices and local control remain. That means we have to build more housing people can afford, and make sure the housing we build is appropriate for our communities and that the laws we pass actually work as intended.
Sacramento has not always gotten that balance right.
My approach has always been to find practical ways to increase housing supply while recognizing the real impacts that development can have on existing neighborhoods. So I review housing legislation with the urgency that our housing affordability crisis demands, but I do my best to understand the impact it can have on our communities. I’ve raised community member’s concerns directly with bill authors in the past, and there have been around 30 housing bills I haven’t supported. And when it looks like legislation has unintended consequences, I’m more than willing to look for remedies. That is why the concerns raised by the Sherwood Forest community are so important to me.
For those unfamiliar, the Sherwood Forest community is in Northridge, just south of California State University Northridge (CSUN). In this community, a developer found a loophole in state law to build what is technically an “ADU” but looks and functions more like an apartment complex: three buildings with 15 bedrooms and 18 bathrooms, plus pickleball courts, a half basketball court, and a pool. The property rents for $65,000 a month and requires a $130,000 deposit - about $4,400 per bedroom.
That is not affordable housing, and it is certainly not what ADUs were intended to be. ADUs were designed to create modest, up-to-1,200-square-foot homes in people’s backyards - not luxury-scale developments with multiple buildings and recreational amenities.
After meeting with residents and learning more about this development, it became clear that the way the law is being implemented is creating unintended consequences. In my view, laws meant to address our housing and affordability crises are being misused, so I understand why residents are frustrated.
When a community sees development happening in a way that is inconsistent with what was intended by the Legislature, they deserve more than to be told that nothing can be done. They deserve their elected officials to listen, investigate the facts, and work to find a path forward.
So, sharing the concerns of our Sherwood Forest neighbors, I agreed we should get to work on a solution. And that is exactly what my office has been doing.
Since the Sherwood Forest community brought this issue to my attention, my team and I have so far spent more than 50 hours in weekly meetings, conversations with experts and elected officials, legal research, and discussions about potential solutions. We have reached out to housing policymakers in the Legislature, including conversations between Assembly and Senate housing committees, and obtained information from the California Department of Housing and Community Development about its evaluation of the issue. We have also spoken with Council offices, reached out to the Los Angeles City Attorney, and consulted Legislative Counsel about potential solutions at the city level.
I have personally met with members of the Sherwood Forest Coalition, including once with the community group and once with another related group, while my staff has remained in regular communication with residents and regularly attended their weekly meetings. We have taken the time to listen, understand the concerns, speak with the people who have relevant expertise and decision making authority, and evaluate every potential avenue we can identify.
I had initially hoped an administrative solution could provide a faster path forward. Unfortunately, after conversations with the state department and the Legislature's Housing Committees, it does not appear that an administrative fix is available. However, I am committed to finding legislative solutions. When I first met with community members, I shared that at the time, the deadline to introduce legislation for this year's session had already passed. Now that we have completed the legislative session, my team has been researching potential legislative solutions and meeting with stakeholders, so we are prepared when we reconvene in December.
I have earned a reputation as a lawmaker who puts in the hard work and does everything I can to fight for our community, because my goal has always been straightforward: make it possible for people to afford to live in the communities they love, keep families safe and together, and make sure that the laws we pass work for the people they are intended to serve.
(Pilar Schiavo is a California State Assemblymember representing the 40th District, which includes communities in the northwest San Fernando Valley, Santa Clarita Valley and Valencia. A Democrat first elected in 2022, Schiavo previously worked as a small business owner and nurse advocate.)
