After weeks of waiting, California's governor signed a bill that will allow mid-rise apartment buildings near major transit stops in California's biggest metro areas. https://cal.news/4n3hzge 📝 @frombenc.bsky.social 📸 Ray Chavez

HUGE YIMBY WIN 🥳 Our top bill in CA, SB 79, has passed the legislature!!! Next stop is the Governor 👏 This kind of win could not be possible without all of YOU! YIMBYs have been working tirelessly to raise our voices in support of SB 79, and it's clear that we are being heard 👏

HUGE 👏👏

SB 79, our bill to legalize townhomes and midrise apartments near the highest-quality transit, is up for its final vote in the Senate TODAY. Calling your state Senator and asking them to support the bill will make a real difference; and it only takes a minute with our tool. Let's get this done!

And there it is! #SB79, Sen. Scott Wiener’s bill to legalize multifamily housing near major public transit stops across California, just passed the state assembly! We are one vote away from the most significant shift in land-use policy California has ever seen!

It's crunchtime, folks! SB 79, our bill to legalize apartments in transit rich areas of California, is about to go up for a vote! Call, text, and email! @cayimby.bsky.social cayimby.org/call-sb-79/

We’re coming down to the wire here. Keep calling!

I was on @podsaveamerica.crooked.com this week talking about housing near public transit, California’s housing crisis in general & our legislation to allow more housing near transit (SB 79). Go check it out

Yes to all of this 👏👏👏 Let’s start by passing SB 79, which will allow exactly the right kind of transit oriented housing LA and CA need!

SB 79 is not nibbling around the edges like nearly all of the recent housing laws passed in CA. I believe it will substantially improve housing supply and affordability. Please call your state reps and ask them to support.

Allowing more homes near high-quality transit is a key strategy to make housing more abundant & affordable, increase transit ridership & reduce traffic congestion & pollution. I’m authoring legislation to get this done. SB 79 will help California meet our housing, transit & climate goals.

There have been a lot of falsely claimed “huge wins” for CA housing policy over the last five years, but I think this actually is one! 🏡🥑

Big news indeed and a breath of fresh air to see a major legacy environmental organization see dense transit-rich housing for what it is: a key part of decarbonization and a climate-resilient future. NIMBYs are finally losing their ability to hide behind “environmentalism”.

We are closer than ever to the long-prophesied exemption from CEQA (endless environmental review) for infill housing development. This is key to stop the endless delays and litigation associated with development in California.

Just putting this out there... I've had a few interactions recently with front-line employees in the federal government, specifically at the VA and the IRS. In each case, the person on the other end of the phone was knowledgeable, polite, and helpful. And generally they get zero thanks from anyone.

Good article summarizing the state of housing debate in California. www.axios.com/local/san-di...

SB 79 just passed the CA State Senate with minimum required votes. A lot of senators took hard votes tonight, stood up to a lot of NIMBY pressure, to legalize housing where it matters most. Change is hard, but change CAN happen.

As we advance big housing reforms — including my bill to allow more homes near transit & @buffywicks.bsky.social bill to exempt infill housing from CEQA — we can look to Sacramento as an example of what happens when a city takes housing production seriously: Lower costs & the sky doesn’t fall.

I called Senator Ben Allen (916)651-4024 & said that I a constituent in 90278 with 2 nearby areas (bus depot and rail station) that would be upzoned by SB 79. I wholeheartedly support more housing there. For my parents who aged out of driving, for me when/if I live that long, for my child.

This is a pretty balanced overview of AB 609, a bill that would make it easier to build large housing projects within already urbanized areas.

The typical starter home (the average price in the bottom 1/3 of all homes) in 59 of 101 Bay Area cities now costs more than $1 million. For generations, the Bay Area has been a land of economic opportunity, but only if people can afford to live here. www.sfchronicle.com/personal-fin...

This is big. Even in its pared down form, SB 79 represents the kind of big reform needed to actually make a dent in our housing deficit. It is time for big solutions to big problems.

The future of CA politics is pro-housing.

We’re at that point in the CA legislative calendar when promising housing bills either get killed in a random committee or amended into irrelevance. It happens *every* year. And we wonder why we can’t solve the housing crisis.

If you look closely, SB-79 (Sen. Wiener's transit-oriented upzoning bill) is already shrinking in scope. In its latest change, the highest tier of upzoning now only applies to "Urban Transit Counties" - those with 15 or more rail transit stations. Will it be able to pass AND keep any broad upzoning?

“Key program is behind schedule” is a bad cliche for California government. We have to change the political culture of California so that promises actually mean something. calmatters.org/health/menta...

Truly crazy story… but also inspiring to have scientists looking for novel solutions to an age old danger.

Some activists say SB 79 would hurt affordable housing and cause displacement… ➡️ “The bulk of studies that have looked into the question have found that new market-rate housing reduces neighborhood rents and tends to ease displacement pressures.” ✅ Great fact check @CalMatters.org!!

SB 79 is *exactly* the kind of big housing bill California needs. Past housing bills have been lots of bluster & very little impact. If SB 79 passes without exempting most of the state (as was done with SB 9, SB 684, etc. in years past) it will actually make a huge difference for housing in CA.

Public data is very important (mostly for researchers to determine what is and isn’t working). In a moment when the federal government is trying to hide or destroy public data, we should applaud state governments going the other way. calmatters.org/commentary/2...

More of this! 🔥

Transit-oriented development (TOD; dense housing near transit stops) would be a huge win for climate, massively reducing greenhouse emissions from commuters. So why are environmental groups either neutral or opposing SB 79, which would be the biggest TOD reform in the history of California?

In a world where housing is built with unicorns & fairy dust, it can be 100% affordable, w/ infinite parking, right next to transit, not block anyone’s view, and for that matter not hurt anyone’s feelings 🙄 But in the real world, projects have to pencil out to be built and compromises must be made.

The first step of many, but still a very significant win. SB 79 would *actually* bring significant new housing to California, and precisely in the locations where it is needed most.

Inspiring to watch Sen. Wiener in action making the righteous case for housing to his Senate colleagues. We need more bold housing leadership just like his in Sacramento.

In the room where Sen. Wahab and allies are trying to kill SB 79, a transit oriented upzoning bill that would allow tens of thousands of new homes where they’re needed most in California. Vote coming soon…

“It’s time to end this practice of banning new homes in areas where we are making massive public transit investments. Proposed state legislation SB 79 from Sen. Scott Wiener would do just that.” www.dailynews.com/2025/04/21/s...

Tomorrow the CA Senate housing committee will show us if California democrats can overcome NIMBYism and advance pro-housing bills past an obstructive chairwoman. Genuinely don’t know how it’ll play out, but I’m going in person to support housing with @yimbyaction.bsky.social

6-year-old at Easter dinner: How did Jesus come back to life? Me: <long overly complicated answer> 6-year-old (immediately after I finished): Why does the ham glaze become so hard when it cools?

End the excuses. Legalize housing.

CEQA (the California Environmental Quality Act) - passed in 1970 - is no longer about protecting the environment. Because of an unintended legal interpretation after the law passed, CEQA gives any person who can hire a lawyer the right to endlessly delay anything that requires a permit to build.

Animal instinct never ceases to amaze.

“The average apartment in Texas costs roughly $150,000 to produce; in California, building the same apartment costs around $430,000, or 2.8 times more.” We *have to* bring down building costs. There are bills in the CA Legislature right now that will! Call your reps! calmatters.org/commentary/2...

Once again, @alfredtwu.com puts together the best CA housing bill tracker out there! Take a look, and call your legislators to ask them to support the bills you want to see become laws. alfredtwu.medium.com/2025-califor...

I have long said I consider myself an environmentalist and a YIMBY, and so it has been extremely frustrating to see environmental orgs I would otherwise respect and support oppose housing over the years. I truly hope the environmental movement can see the light on housing.

Flagrant disregard for lawful orders is an alarming symptom of a degradation of democracy. We cannot normalize or accept this. calmatters.org/environment/...

First investors lose their money. They will not be happy, but will largely be ok. Next workers lose their jobs. They will not have it so easy, and that is the real danger in all this.

It took two generations to create the housing crisis in CA. It’ll take years of concerted effort (and rapid building of new homes) to fix it.

Tariffs are taxes, and they're going to make everything more expensive. In my industry, and a space I care deeply about creating affordability, the cost of new residential construction will without a doubt go up as lumber prices go up. (Much of the lumber used in new homes comes from Canada.)

You may not recognize these two men, but together they have nearly as much political power in CA as Gov. Newsom. Left is CA Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas. Right is CA Senate President Pro Tempore Mike McGuire. They're pictured last week talking about how CA needs to adopt a pro-Abundance agenda.