The last few years have posed significant challenges to homebuilders. Inflation, soaring interest rates, and high construction costs have made it increasingly difficult to finance housing projects. 

While the state of the market is out of our control, we can reform state and local housing policies to help create more favorable conditions for housing production.

Mountain View’s Gatekeeper Process is a review mechanism created to review proposed development projects that may require a new zoning designation, and has been the city’s main mechanism to build large-scale projects. Proposals must first undergo a “pre-review” by the council before city staff evaluates them. The intent of the current Gatekeeper process is to make project expectations more clear, and simplify the path to council approval. 

In January, I got a notification from LinkedIn that I had just reached my eight-year workivesary at the Housing Action Coalition. Looking back on the near-decade I’ve spent advocating for housing, it’s moving to think about how much progress has been made.

The San Francisco City Attorney’s Office sent memorandums on Assembly Bill 1114 (Haney) and Senate Bill 423 (Wiener) to San Francisco officials on November 8. HAC sponsored AB 1114, and was a leading champion of SB 423. Together, these two bills will significantly improve the housing construction process from start to finish, helping alleviate California’s housing shortage and affordability crisis.

As a housing advocacy group, HAC constantly monitors cities, elected officials, and neighbors to know who is and isn’t supporting more housing creation. This year, we made a list (and checked it twice) to chronicle some of the pro- and anti-housing actors from across the region. And with the holiday season upon us, there is no better time to unveil HAC’s running catalog of housing advocates and antagonists — informally referred to as our ‘Naughty or Nice’ list. 

You better watch out. You better not cry. Read on to learn who has been naughty and who has been nice in 2023. 

On Wednesday, October 18th the Housing Action Coalition was proud to host our 21st Annual Housing Heroes at the Salesforce Transit Center. Here’s a recap of the event:

As someone who cherishes the time they’ve spent in Rockridge, the prospect of making the neighborhood more affordable and accessible to families of all income levels means a lot to me. There are far too many wealthy enclaves in the Bay Area with anti-housing laws and regulations that create barriers to access for middle and lower-income residents. Upzoning will lead to more affordable housing opportunities while preserving the essence and charm of a neighborhood that I and so many other Oakland residents hold dear. 

To create pro-housing change we need bold pro-housing leaders who are committed to solving our state’s severe housing shortage, affordability, and displacement crisis.

To that end, here are the pro-housing candidates in critical local and state races HAC is proud to endorse for the March 5 election.

The 2023 legislative session in Sacramento was a landmark moment for pro-housing advocates. From reforming CEQA to addressing the post-entitlement process, California legislators passed a number of significant housing bills that will undoubtedly help accelerate housing production across our state.

In June of 2023 the San José City Council moved to adopt their housing element prior to state certification from the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD). HAC, alongside our coalition partners, firmly advocated against the city’s decision. However, San José’s staff felt confident that the housing plan they drafted met the state’s requirements and would be certified by HCD; if revisions were needed, they would be minor. Yet on August 28th, HCD sent the city a 9-page rejection letter, highlighting a number of issues with the housing element draft they sent.

With the overwhelming success of the latest legislative session, getting multifamily housing entitled and permitted will soon be faster and easier than ever. HAC is proud to be one of the driving forces behind these recent wins as our ongoing efforts to collaborate with state and local elected officials to break down critical barriers to housing production are starting to pay off.

Updates to project agreements + councilmember activity.

In our recent Regulatory Committee meeting, Judson True and Matt Gelfand offered insightful presentations on accelerating housing development and illuminating discussions on Builder’s Remedy lawsuits in La Canada Flintridge , respectively. Below we delve into the valuable takeaways from these discussions.

California homebuilders have a reason for optimism. In July, Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) signed an MOU with the California Building Industry Association (CBIA) to make a series of process improvements to help housing projects get completed faster. The MOU comes after homebuilders across the state expressed their growing frustration with PG&E’s failure to efficiently connect their housing projects to the power grid. 

As the California Legislative Session concludes today, it’s safe to say that pro-housing advocates came out on top. 

In terms of the bills HAC sponsored this session, all three have been approved by the Legislature and now await Governor Newsom’s signature.

For HAC, the year 2031 is significant. As Northern California enters a new RHNA cycle, the question at the top of our minds is, in eight years, will cities, towns, and counties across the state meet their state-mandated housing goals? It’s more than fair to ask the question because for decades Housing Elements have been more of an idealistic dream than a realistic expectation. Every eight years the state would “mandate” cities to increase their housing supply, and every eight years a majority of California cities would build only a fraction of the number of homes the state expected them to build.  The state did nothing in response. 

In the past few months, one of the challenges HAC has been working to address is financial feasibility. If you’re a Bay Area homebuilder, you know that since the pandemic, multifamily housing construction and feasibility haven’t exactly gone hand in hand. With recent hikes in interest rates, skyrocketing construction costs, and exorbitant impact fees, projects haven’t been able to receive financing because they simply don’t pencil out.

Fehr & Peers’ Principal Matt Goyne and Transportation Engineer Nina Price presented about the intersection of transportation, housing, and the climate crisis. Their presentation focused on how higher density housing goes hand-in-hand with more public transportation access, less parking, and less vehicle miles traveled (VMT).

This month, HAC hosted our quarterly Members Only Breakfast Briefing, where Executive Director Corey Smith shared an overview of the organization’s progress and priorities. Throughout the year, HAC has been active with multiple pieces of legislation making its way through Sacramento. HAC Sponsored Bills Assembly Bill 281 (permit review timelines), Assembly Bill 1114 (ministerial building permits), and Assembly Bill 1485 (clarifying AG’s ability to intervene in housing lawsuits) are all still alive and we expect them to be signed into law. On the other hand, HAC sponsored bills Senate Bill 83 (timelines for utilities), Assembly Bill 990 (streamlining protections), and Assembly Bill 1630 (ministerial approval + density bonus for off-campus student housing) did not proceed this session.