The Homework Newsletter

The Homework: June 4, 2026

June 04, 2026

Welcome to the June 4, 2026 Main edition of The Homework, the official newsletter of California YIMBY — legislative updates, news clips, housing research and analysis, and the latest writings from the California YIMBY team.

Election Update

Tuesday, June 2 was election day, and many of California YIMBY’s endorsed candidates are beginning to learn the outcome – but votes are still being counted, and very few election results have been formally certified. 

Here’s what we know as of Thursday morning, June 4:

Candidates advancing to the November general election:

  • Eleni Kounalakis (D, Treasurer): has secured the top spot and will advance. Her opponent has not been called, but Republican Jennifer Hawks leads.
  • Brian Pacheco (D, AD 27, Merced): will advance to the general election against a Republican. This will be a competitive general election race in this swing district.
  • Annalisa Perea (D, AD 31, Fresno): First-place finish. She’ll face a Republican in November in a district that leans heavily Democratic.
  • Sara Hernandez (D, SD 26, East LA): Another first-place finish. Her general election opponent is still being sorted out between two other Democrats.
  • Damon Connolly (D, SD 2, North Coast): A strong first pace finish and will carry an advantage as a Democrat in a deeply blue district into a November fight against a Republican.
  • Nathan Magsig (R, SD 12, Bakersfield): First place secured. Whether he faces a Republican or a Libertarian in November is still being determined.
  • Esmeralda Soria (D, SD 14, Fresno): She placed second but faces a Republican in November in a very Democratic district.
  • Avelino Valencia (D, SD 34, Anaheim): Assemblymember Valencia secured a strong first place finish in his bid for State Senate. He will move on to the general election against a Republican in this deep blue district.
  • Mara Elliott (D, SD 40, Eastern San Diego): The only Democrat in the race, she took first while two Republicans are still battling it out for the second spot on the November ballot.

Races still unresolved: 

  • Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Insurance Commissioner, AD 12 (Marin), AD 35 (Bakersfield), AD 66 (Manhattan Beach), AD 67 (North Orange County), and SD 24 (West LA) have not yet been called.

News from Sacramento

All of our sponsored bills have successfully passed their first-house votes and are now advancing to the second house, where they will be heard in their policy committees. The next key legislative deadline is July 2, the last day for bills to pass policy committees.

Sponsored bills with a set committee hearing date:

  • SB 1117 (Cervantes): Removes the financial penalty many jurisdictions impose on ADUs over 750 sq ft, lowering the cost to build them.
    • Assembly Housing Committee – June 10th
  • AB 956 (Quirk-Silva): Allows homeowners to build up to two detached ADUs on a single-family lot.
    • Senate Housing Committee – June 10th 
  • AB 1294 (Haney): Creates a standard, statewide application process for new home construction, making it faster and cheaper for builders to complete applications.
    • Senate Local Government Committee – June 10th 
  • SB 1116 (Caballero): Makes improvements to state housing law to lower costs and speed construction of smaller, lower-cost starter homes.
    • Assembly Housing Committee – June 24th 

Remaining bills awaiting a hearing date: 

  • AB 1903 (Wicks): Allows builders to fix problems in newly constructed homes before costly legal fees and court proceedings are triggered, reducing housing costs and increasing homeownership opportunities.
  • AB 2074 (Haney): Streamlines construction of high-rise residential and mixed-use buildings near regional transit hubs in California’s largest cities.
  • SB 1014 (Grayson): Requires cities to disclose all infrastructure requirements — sidewalks, sewers, etc. — within 30 days of a housing application, and prohibits adding new requirements after permit application. 
  • AB 1406 (Ward): Raises limits on homebuyer deposits in new developments, reducing risks for builders and expanding pathways to affordable homeownership.
  • AB 1070 (Ward): Directs state agencies to study whether applying the residential building code to small multi-family projects could accelerate construction of “missing middle” housing.

Be sure to follow California YIMBY’s Twitter and Bluesky to get more up-to-date news on housing policy, legislation, and research. If you find this newsletter valuable, forward it to a friend.

Housing Research & Analysis

“Drive til you qualify” … but bring a big checkbook

American cities that grow in a sprawling development pattern and fail to provide mobility options end up costing their residents dearly – in terms of both dollars, and personal well-being. 

According to a sweeping new national study from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, regions that only offer infrastructure for cars, as opposed to a more diverse menu of transportation choices, force residents to pay thousands of dollars more per year in transportation and energy expenses, produce worse health outcomes, and leave young people cut off from economic opportunity.

In Who Sprawls the Most? Mapping Urban Sprawl and Assessing Its Impact on Everyday Life, the Johns Hopkins researchers measured and ranked sprawl in 233 metro areas and 995 urban counties, then linked those rankings to health, traffic fatalities, energy costs, youth disconnection, and social capital outcomes.

Key Takeaways:

  • Urban areas can be more affordable overall. Every 10% increase in the compactness of the built environment reduces transportation costs by 4% and energy costs by 2.7%, more than offsetting the typical 1.2% rise in housing costs in these areas.
  • Sprawl raises pedestrian fatalities. A 10% increase in compactness corresponds to an 18.4% reduction in pedestrian fatalities.
  • Urban areas give youth more social opportunities. A 10% increase in county compactness reduces the rate of “disconnected youth” — young people ages 16–24 who are neither working nor in school — by 3.4%. 
READ MORE

Hidden costs are still costs: How compact development is fiscally conservative

America’s housing shortage is well-documented, but policymakers have rarely accounted for the actual costs of different location choices to taxpayers. A new study finds that building homes near jobs, transit, and stores costs taxpayers roughly $21,000 less per home in upfront infrastructure than building at the suburban fringe – and that gap widens over time. 

In “Building Homes Near Jobs, Stores, and Transit Saves Public Dollars,” experts at the World Resources Institute (WRI) and ECOnorthwest examined the fiscal impact of two housing development scenarios: building near existing jobs, stores, and transit versus building at the urban fringe.

Key Takeaways:

  • Lower upfront infrastructure costs. Building homes near jobs, stores, and transit costs approximately $21,000 less per home in upfront public infrastructure like roads, water lines, and sewer connections than building on the urban fringe, with the gap largest in states that tend to build more densely, such as Minnesota and Washington.
  • Maintenance costs cut by half. 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.
  • Faster payback on public investment. Property taxes from homes built near existing amenities recoup infrastructure investment in nine years on average, compared to 13 years for fringe development, a 50% longer payback period that strains local balance sheets.
READ MORE

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