California Senator Ben Allen at a press conference Monday, January 11, 2016 outside of the Aliso Canyon gas site. Senator Fran Pavley is introducing legislation for an immediate moratorium on any further gas injections at the site.
Allen’s public housing measure, known as SCA 2, was approved for the November 2024 ballot by the state Legislature in 2022., which requires local voters to approve any new government-subsidized, low-income housing. Article 34 was passed in the 1950s when there was a lot of fear around integrating neighborhoods and, as a result, a push to block government housing that might bring minorities into white areas.
“We always knew that this effort would take a little bit of voter education, and that if we were able to create the space to make the case to voters we had a really strong shot of getting it done,” said Allen. “That principle is still very much true and intact, it’s just a matter of picking the right time to do it.”