AB 3173, authored by Scott Wiener follower and Assemblymember Richard Bloom of Santa Monica, would reward developers who build excessively small and highly lucrative 80-square-foot luxury micro-units, jamming them into every major city from Fresno to Long Beach to San Diego.

We estimate this “housing” will rent for about $1,700 per space, yet will be about the size of a walk-in closet and will more likely cater to illegal airbnb and corporate travel — while ruining thriving communities from South Los Angeles to the Bay Area. 

We question who this bill would serve, and why. It appears not to create housing in a state where 70% of households are families. Richard Bloom’s AB 3173 disempowers city planners almost entirely, handing our municipal planning to luxury micro-unit developers.

This ugly bill creates ultra-density at the worst possible time, yet it could get fast-tracked and come up in committee in Sacramento as early as this month, May of 2020.

We urge you CLICK HERE to send an OPPOSE AB 3173 letter to key legislators now, and to also share the below analysis and warnings with your communities and city leaders so they can join in fighting Bloom’s outrageous AB 3173.

Bullet Point Analysis — Why You Should OPPOSE AB 3173:

  • It forces unlimited density and height on communities to make way for exceedingly dense luxury “housing” clearly aimed at wealthy travelers and corporate stay-overs. No affordable units are required. This is not housing.
  • At just 80 square-feet, AB 3173 seeks a radical miniaturization of accepted market-rate micro-unit sizes of about 350- to 400 square feet, which is generally deemed livable. 
  • Eight major cities would be stripped of power over micro-unit zoning, parking requirements, on-site open space, environmental consideration or height: Los Angeles, San Jose, Oakland, Long Beach, Fresno, San Francisco, Sacramento and San Diego.
  • Micro-units are a bonanza for developers, pulling in nearly double the rent per square feet of an actual apartment, according to the Urban Land Institute. AB 3173 will fuel speculation, severely impacting affordable, multi-family areas.
  • AB 3173 lets developers boost square footage 50% beyond what a city allows, upending Community Plans and General Plans. In municipalities that have a height limit, developers can add another 16 feet.