HOUSING POLICY &
LEGISLATIVE ADVOCACY

Learn how housing policy is climate policy and what you can do to bring about positive change.

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.

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.

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.

Among the myriad obstacles facing California home builders one of the most frustrating is the long and arduous process to get a housing project built. In San Francisco, a city infamous for its laborious approval and permitting process, it can take as long as 10 years for an affordable housing project to have people move in. These inordinate delays substantially drive up building costs and can often derail a project.  

The California Legislature recently approved  a critical bill designed to speed up California’s lagging housing production by addressing inefficiencies in the permitting process – AB 2234 (Rivas) Planning and zoning: housing: post entitlement phase permits. This common-sense legislation brings certainty to the building permit acquisition process after local housing developments are approved.

As San Francisco’s housing crisis has grown progressively worse, so too has our city’s discourse around housing. Having spent the past six years working to advance evidence-based solutions to SF’s housing shortage, displacement, and affordability crisis, it’s been alarming to watch housing conversations become increasingly devoid of facts. What’s worse, much of the inaccuracy is coming directly from SF Supervisors themselves. 

Last month, I wrote about the Affordable Homes Now ballot measure backed by Mayor Breed and led by HAC and a coalition of pro-housing, labor, and environmental organizations that will make it faster and easier to build new homes in San Francisco that are affordable to low and middle-income San Franciscans and teachers.

While HAC started as a San Francisco based organization focused on supporting homebuilders to get their projects approved, over the past couple of years the breadth and scope of our work have expanded immensely. 

San Francisco may be considered one of the country’s most progressive cities, but you’d never know it by looking at its land use policies. With nearly 75% of SF currently zoned for low density, it is currently illegal to build small fourplex homes in most parts of the city. This explains why our severe housing shortage, displacement, and affordability crisis has only worsened exponentially decade after decade and reveals a wildly irresponsible lack of leadership from our Board of Supervisors.

When President Joe Biden was elected, and HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge was confirmed, housing advocates hoped for a sea change in federal housing policy to address America’s skyrocketing housing shortage and affordability crisis.