Better Institution: Why I’m Voting No on Proposition JJJ

Of all the local and state initiatives on the ballot this year, the City of LA’s Proposition JJJ has probably caused the most division, at least among the circles I run in. Urbanists, housing advocates, planners, and social justice groups (to name a few) are fighting over whether this is just what LA needs to fix its affordability problems, or yet another short-sighted reform that says all the right things, but will leave us worse off in the long run.

Backers of the initiative have mostly argued that JJJ would create gobs of affordable units at no expense to anyone except developers, while also strengthening local hire provisions and supporting our unionized tradespeople in the region. And who could argue with that?