LAT: California voters to decide on repeal of anti-public housing measure in 2024 [View all]

Nearly 75 years after amending the state Constitution to make it harder to build public housing, California voters will have a chance to repeal the provision on the 2024 ballot.

The measure will ask voters to do away with Article 34 of the California Constitution, which requires voter approval before public housing is built in a community. Article 34, which passed in 1950, stymied low-income housing construction in California for decades and continues today to add to the cost and uncertainty of building affordable housing.

The real estate industry sponsored the 1950 campaign, which appealed to racist fears about integrating neighborhoods and featured heated rhetoric about the need to combat socialism.

Those behind repealing Article 34 argue it’s a racist relic that needs repeal, especially during an affordable housing crisis. While other states have had and repealed laws that called for a public vote before the construction of low-income housing, only California’s Constitution currently requires voter approval for public housing.

“It’s a stain on the constitution,” said state Sen. Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica), who authored the legislation to put the repeal before voters. “It was put in place at a very different time where there were very different attitudes. It’s become a barrier.”