Press Release

Senator Wiener’s Landmark Housing Bill, 16 Other Bills Advance to the Senate Floor

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 Appropriations Committee passed Senator Scott Wiener’s (D-San Francisco) Senate Bill (SB) 79, the Abundant & Affordable Homes Near Transit Act. SB 79 now advances to the Senate floor. SB 79 will tackle 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 committee put minor amendments into the bill that do not impact its core provisions.

“California’s housing and affordability crises have reached a fever pitch, and SB 79 is the bold step forward we need to meet the scale of the crisis,” said Senator Wiener. “Building many more homes near public transit tackles the root causes of our affordability crisis while bolstering public transportation across the state. By focusing on building near major transit stops, we can tackle our housing shortage and lower costs for California families while supporting our public transportation systems with an infusion of new riders.”

In addition to SB 79, the following bills will advance to the Senate floor, where they must pass by June 6:

  • SJR 1 - revoking California’s calls for a Constitutional Convention
  • SB 40 - capping the price of insulin
  • SB 41 - reining in abusive practices by pharmacy benefit managers
  • SB 53 - CalCompute, whistleblower protections
  • SB 59 - safeguards the privacy on court documents related to gender transition
  • SB 63 - Bay Area regional transit funding
  • SB 71 - CEQA exemption for public transit projects
  • SB 276 - San Francisco Allows Fencing
  • SB 310 - wage theft
  • SB 363 - holding health plans accountable for denials
  • SB 378 - holding online platform accountable for selling dangerous hemp products
  • SB 395 - new liquor licenses for downtown San Francisco
  • SB 445 - streamlining permits for major transit projects
  • SB 497 - strengthening California’s transgender state of refuge laws
  • SB 607 - modernizing CEQA
  • SB 747 - data collection on mental health workforce

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. 

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 implementing ordinance 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. It is supported by the following elected officials: Jed Leano, Mayor of Claremont; Jesse Zwick, Santa Monica City Councilmember; Rashi Kesarwani, Berkeley City Councilmember – District 1; Rebecca Saltzman, El Cerrito City Councilmember; Zach Hilton, Gilroy City Councilmember.

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