35% of American neighborhoods are effectively closed to renters through zoning. These rental deserts are 75% white. Strict density limits reduce rental housing shares by up to 21 percentage points. cayimby.org/blog/how-ame...

Palo Alto: 6 housing filings near Caltrain in 10 days, thanks to SB 79, a new state law that allows more homes near transit.

31% of CA rentals offered concessions in April vs. 40% nationally because CA built far less. More supply lowers rents and gives renters negotiating power. www.sgvtribune.com/2026/06/01/w...

RAND found that LA's 'mansion tax' has reduced large apartment construction by ~30% since 2023 and has cost local, county, and state agencies $452M in revenue. Tenants in buildings that paid measure ULA taxes saw rent increases. www.westsidecurrent.com/measure-ula/...

Nashville's streamlined small-lot permitting produced 20,000 infill homes since 2010, selling at a 45% discount to single-family homes. Permits take as little as a week and cost ~$2,000. cayimby.org/blog/think-v...

This r/LosAngeles thread speaks to how the culture of housing is changing: 1. Applicant proposes a 10-townhouse SB 684-11123 project, preserving the existing home. 2. Preservationist-NIMBYs stand up opposition campaign/website. 3. Comments overwhelmingly pro-housing. www.reddit.com/r/LosAngeles...

2025 UCLA/RAND study: LA's Measure ULA transfer tax cut large multifamily permits by 1,910 homes annually and blocks 100+ affordable units per year — more than the ~70 it funds. Land sales for apartments dropped 46% after it took effect. cayimby.org/blog/if-you-...

45% of U.S. housing sits within half a mile of transit, up 36% over two decades. But only 10% is near frequent service. Seattle and Salt Lake City doubled transit-area housing since 1980; Atlanta, Dallas, and Houston remain heavily car-dependent. therealdeal.com/national/202...

Regulations broke housing price signals in Sun Belt cities. In Dallas, a price doubling once triggered 72% more construction, now just 7%. Phoenix dropped from 65% to 10%. All four major Sun Belt metros converged on a 1.2% annual build rate. cayimby.org/blog/america...

We have been saying this for years: building housing close to jobs, services, and schools is one of the best pro-environment actions out there

This proposed Palo Alto apartment project got mixed reviews from the council last year, who wanted changes. It just came back under SB 79, which lets housing near transit move forward with less subjective review. Now it's 39 homes instead of 37, with affordable homes spread across four floors.

When suburbs restrict apartments, rents in nearby poor neighborhoods rise by ~$54/month, and the share of rent-burdened households increases by 2%. Exclusionary zoning in wealthy suburbs raises costs for low-income renters across the entire metro. cayimby.org/blog/suburba...

Upzoning two levels near Austin's planned light rail would cut affordable housing subsidy costs from $8B to $5.5B because more market-rate units in the same buildings would offset affordable-unit costs. cayimby.org/blog/taller-...

A Colorado study models full zoning reform — missing middle, transit-oriented development, and parking reform — cutting building emissions by 31% and transport emissions by 15%. cayimby.org/blog/the-big...

When my mom and dad bought their first house in #PaloAlto, it was a town where young couples without a lot of money could buy a home. I'm looking forward to the day when, thanks to laws like SB79, that will be true once again.

LA lost 400K residents since 2016 while rents nearly doubled. Why? Shrinking household sizes mean more homes needed for fewer people, decades of underbuilding left a structural deficit, and departing lower-income renters are replaced by wealthier ones. www.latimes.com/california/s...

Grover Beach voters will decide in November whether to cap building heights — but if the measure passes, the city risks violating state housing law, losing zoning authority entirely, and triggering the Builder's Remedy it was trying to avoid. www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/a...

What's next after zoning reform? California YIMBY's @edmendoza.bsky.social and @muhammadspeaks.bsky.social join Tahra Hoops to chat about construction-defect reform, pre-sale financing, building codes, elevators, and the next frontier in housing policy. www.therebuild.pub/p/from-the-i...

SB 79 allows housing near transit. That's how a motel by Palo Alto's Caltrain stop could become 76 homes in one of the priciest cities in the country. It's the first project here, proving the law works, even as the city debates what comes next. www.paloaltoonline.com/news/2026/07...

California fast-tracks housing in low-driving neighborhoods, but its outdated VMT model excludes many of them. Replica's model identifies 62% of LA residents in qualifying areas; the state model finds just 40%. cayimby.org/blog/how-cal...

Per NAHB, regulatory costs now add $132K to the average new home, up 40% in five years and 26% of the sale price. Permitting delays, design mandates, and local code variations are major drivers of the housing affordability crisis. www.realtor.com/news/trends/...

Doubling minimum lot size requirements raises home prices 14% and rents 9%. 78% of that premium comes from forcing buyers into larger homes than they need. cayimby.org/blog/why-lot...

Each month of permitting delay adds ~1% to building costs. Preapproved 'pattern book' plans cut weeks-to-months off that timeline and up to $10K in upfront design costs. 40+ communities now offer them. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/22/y...

During 2020–2022 historic rate lows, LA multifamily starts rose 13%. Phoenix: 111%. Suburban Atlanta: 397%. Same financing, very different outcomes. AEI's conclusion: the binding constraint is permitting delays and land-use restrictions www.aei.org/research-pro...

LA left its apartment tax in place, keeping construction costs high. Fewer apartments get built as a result. The same tax already slowed housing citywide and cut $452M from schools and parks funding. laist.com/news/housing...

SB 79 now lets LA build apartments near transit, effectively ending single-family zoning near frequent Metro lines—@mateosfo.bsky.social says it legalizes up to a million homes statewide over the next decade. www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/y...

SB 79 took effect statewide, letting builders add apartments near transit stops without local veto, but LA delayed full compliance until 2030, opting for its own shorter, 4-story density plan instead. lamaterial.com/p/sb79-housi...

LA killed a proposed exemption for new apartments from its transfer tax, keeping the same rate builders and mansion sellers both pay. Research cited by the council links the tax to slower property sales and lower funding for public services. www.bisnow.com/los-angeles/...

Strongtowns Oceanside argues Oceanside voted to exempt nearly all its transit-adjacent sites from SB 79, cutting one station's housing capacity from 25,000 units to zero. Meanwhile, the city's affordable housing filings were already projected to fall from 412 to under 50 this year.

SB 79 takes effect in San Diego, with 24% of eligible areas upzoned right away. The rest face delays to 2027-2032—including fire-risk zones the city defines far more broadly than the state's own map does, according to @BuildSDOrg www.kpbs.org/news/kpbs/20...

A new bill requires Coastal Commission approval before developers, but not original owners, can rebuild fire-destroyed coastal homes. YIMBY advocates say this misses the real driver: high insurance and construction costs are why survivors sell in the first place. calmatters.org/politics/202...

A big deal!

“Halved ongoing maintenance costs. Annual per-home infrastructure maintenance obligations average $309 for homes near jobs, stores, and transit versus $620 for homes at the urban fringe, a difference of roughly 50%, which adds up over the life of the development.” 😮

Building near jobs and transit costs taxpayers $21K less per unit upfront than fringe development, cuts annual maintenance in half, and recoups public investment in 9 years vs. 13, consistent across 10 states. cayimby.org/blog/why-bui...

Apartments built since 2000 have 1.2 fire deaths per million residents vs. 7.6 in single-family homes. Modern apartments are still dramatically safer, because building codes require sprinklers and compartmentation. cayimby.org/blog/new-apa...

Dense metros grew construction wages 74% from 2012 to 2020 vs. 44% in sprawl cities. Individual worker wages rose 11% vs. 5%. Jobs grew 53% faster at similar population growth rates. Density is good for construction workers. cayimby.org/blog/buildin...

[Bill Alert] SB 1117 has passed out of Asm Local Gov Cmte. SB 1117 will make it less costly to build ADUs by removing an arbitrary financial penalty that many jurisdictions impose on ADUs over 750 square feet. cayimby.org/legislation/...

[BILL ALERT] SB 1116, which streamlines the construction of starter homes, just passed the Assembly Local Government Committee! Learn more: cayimby.org/legislation/...

Happy "SB 79 Becomes Law" Day! Let the building begin!

SB79 is the culmination of years and years of hard work by so many dedicated and talented people, including and most importantly @scottwiener.bsky.social and his incredible staff. The conversation around land-use and housing has forever changed in California, and it's largely because of him.

[Bill Alert]: SB 677 has passed out of Asm Local Gov. SB 677 will protect already-approved housing projects from common city delay tactics over the creation of subdivisions and approval of federal financing for affordable housing. cayimby.org/legislation/...

[BILL ALERT] AB 956, which makes it easier to build ADUs across California, just passed the Senate Local Government Committee! Learn more: cayimby.org/legislation/...

[BILL ALERT] AB 2074, which streamlines construction of new housing in California’s largest downtowns, passed the Senate Local Government Committee! Learn more:

today is a good day

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 I was an early and strong supporter of SB 79. While I was gutted when it was amended to exclude Contra Costa County, it’s incredibly important for other areas. Now let’s get a Hercules Capitol Corridor station built - an important project - and SB 79 will apply to Contra Costa!

Happy SB 79 day, California!!

Freedom to build. Freedom to live. Freedom to stay. SB 79.

Today, California ends decades-long bans on apartments near our most frequent train and bus stops, thanks to SB 79. Some cities will move fast. Others will take more time. Change won't happen everywhere at once. But it has begun, and it will not stop here.

Measure ULA missed its revenue goal by two-thirds: a high tax rate convinced wealthy sellers to hold onto their property rather than sell. The tax also applies when developers buy and sell land to build apartments, and a new study says construction fell 30% because of it.

Solana Beach Station qualifies for more housing under SB 79, according to a BuildSd analysis, but SANDAG left it off its draft map. If SANDAG's decision stands, fewer homes will be built near transit. cal.streetsblog.org/2026/06/25/i...