California lawmakers abandon attempt to repeal law requiring voter approval for some public housing

By ADAM BEAM
Associated Press

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California lawmakers have abandoned their attempt to repeal the nation’s only law requiring voter approval for publicly funded affordable housing projects. Voters passed the law in 1950. Opponents say its aim was to keep people of color out of white neighborhoods. No organized opposition has emerged to oppose repealing the law. But lawmakers feared it would be difficult to reach voters with so many other measures on the ballot. Three other attempts to either repeal or change the law have failed in the decades since it passed.