LA deliberately cut its housing capacity from ~10M to ~4M homes through single-family zoning. It hit that cap in the 1990s, then added 5x more jobs than homes 2010–2015. The result is one of the world's least affordable cities. www.dailynews.com/2026/05/27/h...

67 million US homes now sit within a half mile of transit — up 36% in 20 years, per new Urban Institute data. But just 10% are near frequent service. Seattle and Salt Lake City each have more than doubled housing near rail since 1980. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

[Bill Alert]: SB 1014 has passed out of the Asm. Local Gov't Cmte. Heads to floor next. The bill requires cities to disclose infrastructure requirements within 30 days of application and bars new requirements 30+ days after permit application. Thank you to Sen Grayson. cayimby.org/legislation/...

Turns out that lengthy, highly discretionary entitlement processes for new homes make those homes more expensive. Almost by design

If you want a rough first-order estimate of the regulatory contribution to housing costs, here you go.

Permitted land in LA County sells for 50% more than unpermitted land, a $770K median premium per parcel. Permitting accounts for roughly 32% of the gap between home sale prices and construction costs. cayimby.org/blog/economi...

Per @kaerdmann: when construction can't keep up with demand, housing prices decouple from incomes. Coastal cities got there through zoning restrictions. Post-2008 mortgage rules dragged inland cities like Atlanta into the same spiral. kevinerdmann.substack.com/p/facets-of-...

California's construction defect liability amounts to $18,300 per condo unit — 3-4x more than for rental apartments. 80-85% of condo projects get sued, so developers build rentals instead, and for-sale middle housing disappears. cayimby.org/blog/the-leg...

Every 10% increase in homes near frequent transit correlates with 10 more annual rides per resident — 20M more trips for a metro of 2M. Most large US metros have under 40% of homes near frequent service. www.urban.org/urban-wire/t...

1633 Valencia cut SF affordable housing costs ~50% via four levers: (1) reused permitted plans from a prior project (2) design-build so construction started earlier (3) prefab components (4) flexible private capital upfront www.sfchronicle.com/realestate/a...

95% of voters can't name their state legislators, all 50 states stack procedural review laws on top of federal ones, and balanced-budget rules force cuts during recessions. These structural designs help explain why state and local governments underdeliver. cayimby.org/blog/system-...

The full study also focuses on the specific contributions of different cost categories (land, etc.) to these overall differences. For example, land cost is only a small part of the cost of producing affordable housing in both states. It's only a small part of the cost difference.

High transfer taxes in LA, Santa Monica, and SF have stalled housing and underdelivered revenue. Now Howard Jarvis is exploiting the backlash with a ballot measure that would gut local tax authority statewide. We need a legislative fix. cayimby.org/blog/help-sa...

45% of US homes are within a half mile of transit. Only 10% near frequent service (every 15 min). That gap — not culture — explains most ridership differences between high- and low-performing metros. www.urban.org/data-tools/h...

California rents track wealthy household incomes, not low-income ones; both rose 75% since 1985, while bottom-decile incomes grew just 40%. Rising housing costs have fully offset $11.4B in additional food stamp benefits since 1980. cayimby.org/blog/how-cal...

Housing near frequent transit grew 20% from 2000–2022. Total housing stock grew 23%. TOD is expanding but still not keeping pace with overall growth — the transit-accessible share is actually shrinking. www.urban.org/data-tools/h...

Apartment residents use electric heat and drive less, meaning they produce one-third the climate pollution as residents of detached homes. Less regulation blocking apartment construction means more housing, lower costs, and reduced pollution. www.motherjones.com/environment/...

California's SB 79, effective July 1, allows more housing to be built near transit hubs by preventing local governments from blocking qualifying projects. Economists say it could ease prices if developers actually build at scale. www.newsweek.com/california-m...

LA and SF put 90%+ of homes within a half-mile of transit. Atlanta and Dallas: under 50%. More residents near transit means more riders, less car dependence, lower transportation costs. www.urban.org/urban-wire/t...

California affordable housing costs $640/sqft vs. $228 for market-rate in Texas. Permitting takes 49 months vs. 27. Impact fees average $29K/unit vs. under $1K in Texas. Halving that gap would cut rents ~14%. cayimby.org/blog/why-hou...

Median new home size grew from 1,660 to 2,420 sq ft between 1971 and 2025 while households shrank. Legalizing smaller footprints and narrower lots is key to affordability. www.housingwire.com/articles/sta...

For the first time in CA, ADU owners can sell their units as condos rather than only rent them. Santa Rosa is studying whether to adopt the policy — along with upzoning to 10 homes per parcel near transit. www.sacbee.com/entertainmen...

A Potrero Hill resident watched his neighborhood transform over 20 years — new restaurants, parks, schools, & housing. Now he's making the case to SF's west side, which added just 3,000 homes in that period: change is worth it. sfstandard.com/opinion/2026...

SB 79 takes effect July 1, legalizing 6-9 story housing near transit statewide. A major CA developer: 'A lot of that is gonna unfortunately skip Los Angeles because of Measure ULA.' Cities like Glendale, Santa Monica, and Pasadena may see the first wave. www.latimes.com/business/sto...

SB 79 takes effect July 1 — the official map of where new housing will be allowed near Southern California transit stops is now out. Up to 9 stories near subway stops, stepping down to 5 stories within a half-mile. laist.com/news/housing...

[Bill Alert] AB 956 (@quirksilvaca) has passed out of the Senate Housing Committee. The bill will empower homeowners to build up to two detached accessory dwelling units (ADUs) on their properties. cayimby.org/legislation/...

YIMBYs keep winning in Sacramento. But it's critical we make sure cities follow the law. As attorney general, @xavierbecerra.bsky.social was the first to sue a city for blocking housing and win. That changed what cities could get away with. California YIMBY endorses him for Governor. 1/2

[Bill Alert] SB 1117 (@senatorcervantes.bsky.social) has passed out of the Assembly Housing Committee. The bill will make it less costly to build ADUs by removing an arbitrary financial penalty that many jurisdictions impose on ADUs over 750 square feet. 1/2

3 studies link Measure ULA to suppressed apartment construction, and the county assessor says commercial sales are falling in LA but not countywide, pointing to the tax rather than market conditions. LA City Council shelved a broader fix. laist.com/news/health/...

RAND: Measure ULA blocked 9,000+ new homes and cost LA $452M in forgone revenue. Fewer homes mean higher rents for everyone. Targeted reform could produce 19,000 more homes while preserving 72% of revenue. www.rand.org/pubs/researc...

A 2002 CA law meant to protect condo buyers ended up making condos too risky to build. Santa Clara County is down 90% from peak. AB 1903 (@buffywicks.bsky.social) is the first serious fix in 24 years. Tom Philp of the Sac Bee explains why it matters. www.sacbee.com/opinion/arti...

@cayimby.bsky.social is advocating for a transfer tax deal. See what’s at stake with @hanlon.bsky.social’s piece in Calmatters. calmatters.org/commentary/2...

Schools need funding to serve families. So Clovis Unified raised fees on homebuilders. But stacked with water, traffic, and other fees, the total can make starter homes too costly to build, shrinking housing options for the families the district will serve. www.fresnobee.com/news/local/e...

LA has a housing shortage, yet one architect spent $73K and 3 years on permits for a 1,400 sq ft home: $5K for tree reports the city made him redo, $17K to confirm he didn't need to widen a street nobody widens. www.latimes.com/california/s...

LA's rental market is so competitive that a cottage industry of TikTok apartment scouts has emerged: entrepreneurs charging fees to find homes in a city where average one-bedrooms run 33% above the national average. www.latimes.com/lifestyle/st...

Zoning reform is passing in red and purple states—Texas, Montana, Virginia, Michigan—through unlikely coalitions of YIMBYs, libertarians, and affordable housing groups. Supporters see supply reform and subsidy as complementary. shelterforce.org/2026/05/20/s...

“Unless the Legislature and governor act soon, the confusing ballot measure could end up hamstringing the finances of every jurisdiction in the state,” writes @hanlon.bsky.social about the Howard Jarvis Taxpayer Association’s initiative. We’re urging lawmakers to strike a deal to avert that outcome.

LA's wildfire rebuild lags badly—only 55 homes completed across Altadena and Palisades combined, vs. ~165 at the same point after Santa Rosa's 2017 fire. Survivors report a ~$600K average gap between insurance coverage and actual rebuild costs. www.politico.com/newsletters/...

Santa Cruz ranked 2nd in CA for yearly population loss in 2025. With rents over $3,000/month and 57% of jobs in the lowest wage tier, residents are leaving, and the city's own housing production hasn't kept pace with demand. lookout.co/santa-cruzs-...

The Bay Area's homelessness crisis isn't driven by drugs or mental illness; the region is average on both. It's driven by rent. Every Bay Area county ranks in the top 1% nationally, leaving no margin for error when life goes wrong. www.mercurynews.com/2026/05/21/b...

From coast to coast, cities and states across America show that building more homes and increasing supply are the key to lowering rents and improving housing affordability:

Nearly 1 in 11 CA workers super-commutes over an hour each way, often because housing near job centers is unaffordable. www.ppic.org/blog/super-c...

A 1940s-era single-family lot in Northridge is proposed for 16 townhomes under SB 1123, which allows developers to split vacant parcels and build starter homes without public hearings. therealdeal.com/la/2026/05/1...

SF may reduce its inclusionary zoning mandate from 15% to 5%, recognizing that the requirement was blocking homes from being built at all, hurting the renters it was meant to help. www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/a...

Apartments are legal on just 12% of US residential land, versus 95% for single-family homes. Even cities that welcome housing see that collapse at the city limits; Charlotte allows multifamily on 84% of its land, but just 7% across its suburbs. www.newamerica.org/insights/whe...

SF is the only major CA city where residents can appeal housing projects over shadows. A supervisor's proposed SHADE Act would end that, citing 2,195 homes delayed over the past decade by shadow-based CEQA appeals. www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/h...

Houston's permissive zoning produced more urban-core housing than SF and Oakland combined bt 2005-18, kept rents at $1,100/month, and—unusually—concentrated new development in wealthy neighborhoods rather than displacing lower-income ones. www.planetizen.com/features/137...

A downtown LA residents group is pushing for AB 2074, a bill that would fast-track high-rise housing near transit hubs and create low-interest construction loans. This could unlock thousands of stalled homes in downtown. labusinessjournal.com/commentary/o...

San Diego built more apartments per person than any CA metro last year—and rents fell 2.2%, dropping the city from 5th to 12th priciest nationally. www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2026/05/13/s...

CA condo construction fell 90% since 2000s. Litigation risk made insurance up to 400% pricier than rentals. AB 1903 would shift to repair-first lawsuits. Mayors of Riverside and Long Beach say it reopens the path to first-time homeownership. www.sgvtribune.com/2026/05/13/n...