#California Gov #Newsom signs #ScottWiener bill to bulldoze over opposition to expansion of #housing density and residential construction projects along key rail transit corridors.
New #Yimby law "Abundant & Affordable Homes Near Transit Act" (#SB79) creates less restrictive state #zoning codes, limits options for those seeking to stall plans, restrict density or halt new housing near transit stations.
Opposition to legislation included exburb #NIMBY #realestate investors who fear #construction of potential seven story condo bldgs near rail transit corridors that would destroy perception of aesthetic quaintness of #suburbs like Burlingame, or Petaluma etc.
Earlier this summer #GovNewsom signed similarly YIMBY-backed #legislation to exempt most urban apartment projects from #CEQA reviews, the state’s signature environmental protection law. “Go YIMBYs,” Newsom said when signing that bill into law.
The state's "housing crisis" conditions in which distinct lack of rental unit availability, and #Prop13 tax measure after effects etc, have all spiked the price of basic housing options, and put vast swaths of not particularly exceptional suburbs amongst the nation's highest priced #realestate markets.
“In California we talk a lot about where we don’t want to build #homes, but rarely do we talk about where we do—until now,” said law sponsoring state senator Wiener in a statement about his fourth in a decade long attempt to get similar laws passed. “SB 79 unwinds decades of overly restrictive policies that have driven housing costs to astronomical levels, forcing millions of people away from #jobs and #transit and into long commutes from the #suburbs or out of the state entirely. It has been a long road to tackling these decades-old problems, but today’s signing marks a new day for #AffordableHousing in California.”
https://calmatters.org/housing/2025/10/newsom-signs-massive-california-housing-overhaul/
https://www.berkeleyside.org/2025/10/10/california-sb79-housing-berkeley-transit-oriented-development
https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2025/10/10/sb-79-san-francisco-signed.html
https://laist.com/news/housing-homelessness/los-angeles-sb-79-map-neighborhoods-address-housing-california-bill-bass-newsom
https://calmatters.org/housing/2025/09/neighborhood-transit-upzoning/ #UpZoning #Development #WeinerWorld #HousingAffordability