Fee Deferrals to Build More Homes Home builders in California face a barrage of financial challenges, from exorbitant local development fees to high interest rates and rising labor and materials costs. Local development fees, including impact fees, services fees, and…
SB 1211
ADUs in Multi-Family Zones Recent state reforms that make it faster, cheaper, and easier for homeowners to build Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), also known as “granny flats,” have led to a boom in their construction, with over 80,000 ADUs built…
AB 1820
Fee Transparency The fees that local jurisdictions in California charge when they permit new housing developments are variable, unpredictable, and often punitively high; not only do fees vary from city to city, but even from project to project. These development…
SB 312
Streamlining Homes for Students In 2022, the California State Legislature passed SB 886 (Wiener) to help resolve the extreme shortage of housing available on California university campuses and in their surrounding communities. SB 886 allows streamlined approval for student housing…
AB 2580
Monitoring Historic Preservation Historic preservation plays a vital role in protecting California’s architectural heritage and conserving places of historical significance. Historic districts, and buildings designated as “historically significant,” receive special protections that subject new developments, building renovations, and design changes…
AB 3057
Junior ADU Ordinance Technical Fix AB 3057 is a technical fix to existing law that will grant local Junior ADU ordinances the same exemption to environmental review that is already granted to standard ADU ordinances. Thanks to state efforts to…
SB 1123
Expanding and Refining the Starter Home Revitalization Act (SB 684) SB 1123 (Caballero) updates SB 684 (2023) to make it legal to build up to 10 homes on vacant lots in single-family zones near jobs, schools, transit, and other amenities,…
SB 1210
Utility Fee Transparency When a new housing project is being completed, the developer must pay fees to cover the cost of connecting to local utilities, like water, sewer, gas, and electric. These utility fees are a normal part of the…
SB 1470
Condo Defect Law Reform Historically, ownership condominiums have played a major role in providing affordable “starter homes” for first-time homebuyers. Condominiums are on average 2.7 times less expensive than a typical, single-family home. But current legal practices in settling disputes…
SB 1462
Condo Deposit Reform Condominiums have historically provided more affordable starter-homes for first-time homebuyers, but some aspects of state law make it difficult to finance condo projects, discouraging their construction. SB 1462 will allow condo developers to use deposits made by…