By Matt Levin | CalMatters
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/698305393″ params=”color=ff5500&hide_related=true&show_comments=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]Please subscribe to the Gimme Shelter podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Soundcloud, Google Play, Spotify or Overcast
Cities and homeowner groups — often reluctant to allow the building of denser housing in their backyards — are frequently blamed for California’s soaring housing costs.
But advocates for local control argue that state housing interventions, including many supported by Gov. Gavin Newsom, risk eroding the character of their neighborhoods. And they say that state efforts to prod more development ignore the strains on infrastructure and local budgets that will inevitably accompany new development.
“There are yards and fences and gateways and flowers and trees that are showing a kind of love and appreciation for the intermingling between nature and beautiful construction and caring and neighborliness,” said Susan Kirsch, a slow-growth activist from Marin County, as she described her hometown of Mill Valley.
“This is…
