During the 2024 California Legislative Session, which closed on August 31, the State Legislature again passed many bills seeking to ease the state’s housing crisis. This post focuses on key housing-related bills that are, at...more
The 2023 California Legislative Session, which closed on September 14, was dominated yet again by efforts to address the state’s continued housing crisis. For the last several years, we have written about many bills enacted...more
9/29/2023
/ Affordable Housing ,
CEQA ,
Construction Project ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Review ,
Housing Market ,
Legislative Agendas ,
New Legislation ,
Pending Legislation ,
Real Estate Development ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Urban Planning & Development
The 2021–2022 California Legislative Session closed on August 31 and was dominated by further efforts to address the state’s continued housing crisis. The flurry of major legislation passed by the Legislature and now on the...more
9/14/2022
/ Affordable Housing ,
California ,
Community Development ,
Density Bonus ,
Housing Developers ,
Housing Market ,
Mixed-Use Zoning ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Real Estate Development ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Urban Planning & Development
In 2020, California legislators considered but ultimately did not approve bills that would have substantially restricted the continued use of single-family zoning across the state. These efforts included SB 50 (Wiener), which...more
Like so much of this unprecedented year, the 2019-2020 California Legislative Session ended with unexpected twists and pointed disappointments as the Assembly and Senate wrestled with the coronavirus pandemic, social...more
On April 29, 2020, six Bay Area counties – Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara – as well as the City of Berkeley, each issued substantially similar updates to their extended local...more
SB 50, Senator Scott Wiener’s bill to boost housing production near transit and job centers, has been defeated. The vote fell three votes short on Wednesday, and Wiener was unsuccessful in his reconsideration request...more
On March 3, San Francisco voters will consider Proposition E (“San Francisco Balanced Development Act”), which links the City’s “Proposition M” office allocation scheme, originally approved by voters in 1986, to affordable...more
1/31/2020
/ Affordable Housing ,
Ballot Measures ,
Capacity Allocation ,
County Planning Commissions ,
Housing Market ,
Low Income Housing ,
Low-Income Issues ,
Municipalities ,
Office Space ,
Real Estate Development ,
San Francisco ,
State and Local Government ,
Urban Planning & Development
Last spring, we reported on Senator Scott Wiener’s SB 827, which proposed major increases in height and density for qualifying housing developments....more
In the spring of 2017, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved a major overhaul of the City’s inclusionary housing fee provisions. ...more
On September 30, Governor Brown signed AB 2923, which could pave the way for BART to develop up to approximately 20,000 residential units, plus about 4.5 million square feet of office and commercial uses, on about 250 acres...more
Assemblyman David Chiu has unveiled his long-promised legislation to establish a modified version of the state’s former redevelopment program, aimed at creating major state funding for affordable housing, transit, and other...more
3/27/2018
/ Affordable Housing ,
Construction Industry ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Housing Market ,
Infrastructure ,
Neighborhood Revitalization ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Real Estate Development ,
Redevelopment ,
State and Local Government ,
State Funding ,
Surface Transportation ,
Urban Planning & Development
Following more than six years of planning and public outreach, the City initiated the formal approval process for the Central SoMa Plan (Plan) at the Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission on February 27 and March 1,...more
3/26/2018
/ Density Bonus ,
General Plan ,
Historical Landmarks ,
Housing Market ,
Mixed-Use Zoning ,
Municipalities ,
Real Estate Development ,
San Francisco ,
State and Local Government ,
Urban Planning & Development ,
Zoning Maps
Building on the state’s major housing legislation from 2017, Senator Scott Wiener’s SB 827 proposes major increases in height and density for qualifying housing developments....more
3/20/2018
/ Affordable Housing ,
Ballot Measures ,
Density Bonus ,
Housing Developers ,
Housing Market ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Low Income Housing ,
Low-Income Issues ,
Proposed Legislation ,
State and Local Government ,
Urban Planning & Development
Having trouble keeping up with the seemingly endless torrent of new housing laws? You are not alone. Here is our summary of the key pending State and San Francisco legislation aimed at increasing housing/affordable housing...more
3/23/2017
/ Affordable Housing ,
Density Bonus ,
Housing Developers ,
Housing Market ,
Inclusionary Housing Ordinance ,
Local Ordinance ,
Low Income Housing ,
Low-Income Issues ,
Pending Legislation ,
San Francisco ,
Urban Planning & Development
The State Density Bonus law has been in effect for almost 40 years, but it has required a prolonged housing crisis to push San Francisco to adopt a local implementing ordinance. Last year the Board of Supervisors adopted the...more
Shortly after being sworn in as California State Senator on Monday, former San Francisco Supervisor Scott Wiener introduced SB 35, placeholder legislation addressing barriers to housing production. The legislation currently...more