Regional Housing Needs Assessment
California Sues Norwalk Over Shelter Moratorium
The state says the city of Norwalk’s prohibition on new shelters and transitional and supportive housing violates anti-discrimination and fair housing laws.
California’s New Housing Laws: What You Need to Know
The state legislature passed dozens of new laws aimed at improving housing affordability and streamlining the development process to meet rising demand.
Norwalk to Lose State Funding After Shelter Ban
A California city will lose access to state housing funds after refusing to end a prohibition on new emergency shelters.
California Bill Clarifies ‘Builder’s Remedy’
New laws eliminate the murky, ‘free-for all’ approach to the policy, letting developers continue to build new housing projects under stricter guidelines.
California Bill Seeks to Balance Preservation and Housing Demand
A bill awaiting the governor’s signature would require cities to report new historic preservation ordinances and assess how they impact local housing supplies.
San Francisco Must Streamline Permitting Process
After failing to meet state targets for housing production, the city must create a shorter permitting process under a 2023 state law.
California Bills Would Clarify, Restrict ‘Builder’s Remedy’
The controversial law lets developers skirt local zoning rules in cities without state-approved housing plans.
The State of Housing in California
Homelessness continues to rise, and recent legislation aimed at boosting housing production may be limited in its effect.
San Francisco Approves Zoning Reforms to Avoid ‘Builder’s Remedy’
The county board of supervisors voted to approve zoning changes that bring it closer to compliance with state housing mandates.
Federal Court Dismisses Huntington Beach Housing Lawsuit
A federal judge on November 13 dismissed a lawsuit the Orange County city filed against the state and the Southern California Association of Governments in March in an attempt to exempt itself from state housing laws.
After Supreme Court Affirmative Action Ruling, L.A. Suburb Claims Housing Mandate Unconstitutional
A wealthy California city is using a new argument to fight a multifamily housing development.
New Research Builds Evidence for Zoning Reform
Cityscape has published a collection of new research building support for zoning reforms as a tool for mitigating the effects of the housing affordability crisis.
Meeting Housing Goals by Loosening Commercial Zoning
Torrance, a city on the coast of Southern California in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, recently adopted a zoning overlay that will relax commercial zones to allow more residential development.
How One L.A. Developer Uses the Law to Build Apartments
California’s density bonus law lets developers skirt some zoning regulations to build multifamily housing.
State Regulators Reject Palo Alto’s Housing Element a Second Time
More analysis and more equity will be required for Palo Alto to finally adopt a Housing Element that complies with state laws.
New Plans for Palo Alto: Updated Zoning and 6,000 Housing Units
The city of Palo Alto, a city central to the geographic and economic might of Silicon Valley, is planning a significant overhaul to its plans for the future, making space for over 6,000 new housing units in the next eight years.
Should ADUs Count as Affordable Housing?
Without regulations or monitoring systems to ensure accessory dwelling units are rented at affordable rates, citing ADU construction toward affordable housing goals is a disingenuous way to avoid building multi-family housing.
Coronado Openly Flouts California Housing Law
The affluent island town has failed to submit a housing element that meets the state’s requirements for affordable housing production.
How California’s Newest Housing Laws Could Affect Housing Production
While it’s too soon to assess the full effects of recently passed legislation on housing production in the state, planners and housing advocates express cautious optimism that the new laws could help alleviate the state’s housing shortage.
California Attorney General Wants to Get Serious About Housing
A bill sponsored by the AG’s office would give the state’s top attorney more power to intervene in lawsuits related to the state’s housing laws.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
City of Albany
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research
