A more diversified housing landscape may soon be coming to California.
Gov. Gavin Newsom last week signed a package of housing bills promising myriad reforms to reduce red tape, incentivize construction and boost housing affordability. They do that in part by opening the door to more types of housing, from high-rises to townhomes to accessory dwelling units, or “granny flats,” in a property’s backyard.
More than 95% of residential land in California is zoned for single-family housing only, a 2024 Zoning Atlas analysis found. The state is home to some of the most expensive cities for housing in the country and has the largest homeless population.
“Every Californian deserves a fair shot at a stable home – families shouldn’t have to wait years for housing to be approved and built in their communities,” Newsom said in a news release upon signing the bills.
Finding the missing middle
As more states explore middle-scale housing types amid an affordability crisis, California’s Missing Middle Townhome Act, AB 1751, establishes by-right approval for townhome development projects of up to 150 units and authorizes local governments to set up a fast-track 60-day ministerial approval timeline for qualifying projects, according to analysis by law firm Holland and Knight. The legislation also exempts such projects from California Environmental Quality Act reviews.
To that end, another bill, SB 1116, bolsters the state’s existing Starter Home Revitalization Act, according to California YIMBY, and clears a path for a 60-day approval process for starter homes such as townhomes and condominiums. It also blocks local governments from using zoning to limit these types of housing in certain cases.
Bigger smaller housing
California has already seen a boom in ADU construction in some areas, but new legislation signed last week further incentivizes the smaller backyard housing by eliminating an impact fee for ADUs above 750 square feet. A new marginal fee structure will limit local governments to charging proportionally for the square footage above 750 square feet, rather than per each square foot, for the first two ADUs built on a property, according to a California YIMBY analysis.
Eliminating the prior fee structure reduces costs and is “a substantive change that will help create more family-sized ADUs,” California YIMBY CEO Brian Hanlon said in a press release.
A highway to high-rises
AB 2074 requires seven of the state’s largest and most transit-rich cities to establish regional transit hub districts where residential building height limits must be set at a maximum of 150 feet, with maximum heights of at least 450 feet permitted in at least 25% of regional transit hub districts in a city.
“Our downtowns are still struggling and need to be brought back to life,” Assemblymember Matt Haney, the bill’s sponsor, said in an April news release. “AB 2074 makes that happen by building dense housing where it’s needed most while creating good-paying jobs.”
