Press Release

Senate Passes Senator Wiener’s Legislation To Build Homes Near Public Transit To Improve Affordability in California

California needs to build millions of new homes in sustainable locations to meet state housing goals, slash climate emissions, and reduce the cost of living. But overly restrictive zoning codes make building such homes illegal. SB 79 allows building more homes near transit to lower costs for families while bolstering public transit use, and supporting cash-strapped transit agencies.

SACRAMENTO – The Senate passed Senator Scott Wiener’s (D-San Francisco) Senate Bill (SB) 79, the Abundant & Affordable Homes Near Transit Act. SB 79 tackles the root causes of California’s affordability crisis by allowing more homes to be built near major public transportation stops and on land owned by transit agencies, bolstering transit use, slashing climate emissions, and supporting public transportation in the process. The bill passed 21-13 and heads next to the Assembly.

“Tonight’s vote is a big step toward making California an affordable place for people to live and thrive,” said Senator Wiener. “California urgently needs to build more homes to bring down costs, and building them near transit provides our public transportation systems with an urgently needed infusion of new riders. This is an idea whose time has come. I thank my Senate colleagues for supporting this legislation and look forward to working with my Assembly colleagues to get the bill across the finish line.”

SB 79 allows more homes near transit by:

  • Establishing state zoning standards around train stations and major bus stops (bus rapid transit stops) that allow for multi-family homes up to seven stories near immediately surrounding major transit stops, with lower height standards extending up to half a mile away from such stops.
  • Allowing local transit agencies to develop at the same or greater density on land they own. 

Senator Wiener amended the bill ahead of the Senate Appropriations committee to reconfigure the bill’s tiering system, to allow local jurisdictions more flexibility in where to put the increased density, to clarify that local affordability requirements still apply, and to add an additional affordability requirement where local affordability requirements do not exist. The bill was amended in the Senate Appropriations Committee to remove provisions of the bill related to the Surplus Lands Act and to remove SB 79’s applicability in light industrial zones.

California has the highest cost of living of any state, primarily due to our extreme housing shortage. At the same time, overly restrictive zoning laws prevent millions of Californians from living near public transit, making train and bus systems impractical for many. Building an abundance of homes at all income levels, in close proximity to major transit stops, will address our housing shortage to lower costs while making public transportation feasible for millions of families to use. Building these homes starts with legalizing to build multifamily housing near major transit stops, also known as transit-oriented development.

Building on land owned by transit agencies will also provide urgently needed financial support for public transit. Many successful transit agencies in cities like Tokyo, Singapore, and Hong Kong raise revenue to support public transit by developing land that they own. In Hong Kong, the approach is so successful that the transit agency regularly turns a profit—in stark contrast to the many transit agencies facing major budget shortfalls across California due to slowly recovering ridership and the state’s low level of support for public transit compared with other jurisdictions.

Several jurisdictions outside of California have made progress in making transit-oriented development easier: 

  • Colorado requires cities to allow an average of 40 dwelling units per acre within a quarter-mile of transit.
  • Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority must have at least one multifamily district allowing at least 15 dwelling units per acre.
  • Utah requires an average  density of 50 dwelling units per acre in transit reinvestment zones.

SB 79 sets standards for allowable housing development within a half mile of train stops and major bus stops, also known as bus rapid transit (BRT) stops. SB 79 does not apply around low frequency bus stops. The standards are tiered to allow greater height and density in the immediate vicinity of the most heavily trafficked transit stops, and lower levels around less trafficked types of transit stops and in the surrounding areas. 

Transit oriented housing developments under SB 79 are eligible for the streamlined ministerial approvals process under Senate Bill 423 (Wiener, 2023) if they meet that law’s environmental, labor, and affordability standards. Under SB 79, local governments would have flexibility to tailor their TOD areas and standards in an alternative plan subject to oversight from the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD).

SB 79 is sponsored by Streets for All, California YIMBY, Greenbelt Alliance, SPUR, and the Bay Area Council. 

List of elected officials in support:

  • City of Berkeley Councilmember Rashi Kesarwani
  • City of Claremont Councilmember Jed Leano
  • City of El Cerrito Councilmember Rebecca Saltzman
  • City of Emeryville Councilmember Matthew Solomon
  • City of Gilroy Councilmember Zach Hilton
  • City of Mount Shasta, Councilmember Casey Glaubman
  • City of Mountain View Councilmember Lucas Ramirez
  • City of Petaluma Councilmember Brian Barnacle
  • City of Santa Monica Councilmember Jesse Zwick
  • City of South San Francisco Councilmember James Coleman
  • Foster City Councilmember Phoebe Shin Venkat
  • Mayor of Campbell, Sergio Lopez
  • Sacramento City Councilmember Caity Maple
  • United States Congressman Scott Peters, CA-50
  • Vice Mayor Mark Dinan - City of East Palo Alto
  • Vice Mayor Laura Nakamura – City of Concord
  • Vice Mayor Alexander Pedersen - City of Capitola
  • Vice Mayor Emily Ann Ramos - City of Mountain View

 

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