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Susan is a contributor to Sacramento’s newsletter: CalMatters

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“Who benefits from the inflated housing crisis? Housing bills like Wiener’s Senate Bill 50 slam the door on local decision-making to benefit constituents and throw open the door to real estate investors who prioritize profits. Economist Michael Storper calls this dangerous trend the financialization of housing.”

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“Legislators should take a breather. They could declare a moratorium on more legislation until the impact of the 40-plus housing bills passed in the last four years take effect, and they ought to analyze and address the underlying causes of income inequity.”

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“We have a housing problem, but the crisis is the loss of democracy brought about by the financialization of housing. When legislators become champions of the simplistic explanation that cities are to blame, they abandon critical thinking, their constituents, and their oaths of office.”

The LA Times and CityLab recognize Susan as a statewide leader

“It’s about people being stewards of what they love and care about,” she told me over coffee at her home in Mill Valley, an enclave north of San Francisco surrounded by natural preserves. “It’s care-giving, not excluding care for others.”

“There is a wake-up call that our legislators are not representing people at the grass-roots level,” said Susan Kirsch, an activist from Mill Valley and head of Livable California, a slow growth organization. “We were very concerned about decisions being made further and further away from people who have to live with the consequences of them.”