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On Thursday, Sept. 19, Gov. Newsom signed a package of housing bills designed to address the housing crisis affecting California. Below is a brief summary of key bills....more
On September 19, 2024, Governor Gavin Newsom approved Assembly Bill (AB) 2243 (Wicks), which amends AB 2011 (Affordable Housing and High Road Jobs Act of 2022), effective January 1, 2025. As explained in our prior legal...more
City of Los Angeles - Increase to Planning Applications and Affordable Housing Linkage Fees - On July 1, 2024, the fee for planning and land use applications increased by 3.5% based on the Consumer Price Index for All Urban...more
The Assembly Select Committee on Permitting Reform held its first hearing on June 18, 2024, commencing its efforts to address California’s housing and climate crises by reforming the state’s land use permitting regime....more
Recognizing that Downtown San Francisco is “struggling” post-pandemic, State Senator Scott Wiener has announced new legislation to exempt certain projects in the area from California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review...more
The 2023 legislative cycle saw another mixed-bag of legislation dealing with CEQA “reform,” with a particular focus on streamlining affordable housing development. While many bills died during the process, a few key laws were...more
The 2023 legislative session culminated in Governor Newsom signing dozens of land use bills. This post discusses the most important. The Legislature continued its multifaceted approach to addressing the housing crisis, with...more
The California Legislature’s laser focus on addressing the state housing crisis did not subside during the 2023 legislative session. While legislators proposed over 150 housing bills, only a fraction of those bills were...more
In it’s recent decision in United Neighborhoods for Los Angeles v. City of Los Angeles (2023) ___ Cal.App.5th ___, the Second District Court of Appeal affirmed a judgment voiding the City of Los Angeles’s reliance on the CEQA...more
On July 6, 2023, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass signed into law a provision to exempt certain affordable housing projects from the city’s Site Plan Review Process. The exemption was made as an amendment to Site Plan Review...more
A roundup of news and multimedia from the Unfamiliar Terrain team: San Francisco - National Insight on Downtown San Francisco Recovery (Urban Land Institute): San Francisco can create a more commercially vibrant and...more
A local organization appealed the denial of its challenge to the approval of an affordable housing project and disputed the trial court’s order requiring it to post a bond. The Court of Appeal rejected plaintiff’s contentions...more
Holland & Knight Partner Jennifer L. Hernandez, leader of the firm's West Coast Land Use and Environmental Group, recently authored an industry report for the Center for Jobs & The Economy, whose mission is to identify and...more
California’s continuing shortfall of new housing to meet demand has led to the enactment of a number of measures at the state level to encourage housing development and to limit the grounds for local governments to disapprove...more
While the 2020-2021 California Legislative Session was dominated by the ongoing COVID-19 health crisis and the ultimately unsuccessful Gubernatorial recall election, there were significant efforts made to change statewide...more
As the State of California battles through a housing crisis, lawmakers are seeking creative ways to enable local governments to meet their long-term housing needs and produce housing more quickly. On September 16, 2021,...more
The Housing Crisis Act of 2019 (Senate Bill No. 330; Senator Skinner) goes into effect on January 1, 2020 and expires on January 1, 2025. It aims to address the statewide housing crisis by limiting the number of public...more
As California's housing supply and homelessness crisis continues, the State Legislature has for the past several years passed numerous pieces of housing legislation in each legislative session. This year was no exception,...more
The California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) issued its Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) Determination to the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) on Aug. 22, 2019, concluding...more
Land Use and Development Case Summaries (short form) - 1. PLANNING AND ZONING - CENTER FOR COMMUNITY ACTION AND ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE V. CITY OF MORENO VALLEY, 26 Cal. App. 5th 689 (2018) - Based on the language and...more
• After the California Legislature passed a high-profile package of 15 new housing laws in 2017, it has continued to focus on housing laws in 2018 to address the state's epic housing shortage. • As Gov. Jerry Brown winds...more
The San Francisco Planning Director issued a Bulletin in December 2017 explaining how SB 35 will be implemented locally now that it is effective, as of January 1, 2018. Among other things, the Bulletin includes a new...more