Governor Newsom Indicators Senator Wiener’s Landmark Law To Construct Extra Homes Near Public Transit

Senator Scott Wiener’s Abundant & Affordable Homes Near Transit Act (SB 79) creates much less restrictive state zoning codes to permit extra properties close to transit, to decrease prices for households whereas strengthening transit techniques, slashing visitors congestion, and decreasing carbon emissions.

SAN FRANCISCO – Governor Newsom signed Senator Scott Wiener’s (D-San Francisco) landmark Senate Bill (SB) 79, the Abundant & Affordable Homes Near Transit Act. SB 79 tackles the foundation causes of California’s affordability disaster by permitting extra properties to be constructed close to main public transportation stops and on land owned by transit companies in essentially the most sustainable areas. The new legislation establishes state zoning requirements round prepare stations and main bus stops to permit for midrise properties inside a half mile of main transit stops, and permits native transit companies to develop on land they personal. 

SB 79 builds on the landmark CEQA reforms handed earlier this yr in AB 130 (Wicks) and SB 131 (Wiener). By establishing state zoning requirements, SB 79 unlocks an excessive amount of crucial land to make use of streamlining legal guidelines like AB 130 and Senator Wiener’s SB 423 (2023). The passage of each AB 130 and SB 79 marks 2025 as essentially the most vital yr for pro-housing reforms within the historical past of California.

“SB 79 is a historic step toward tackling the root cause of California’s affordability crisis — our profound shortage of homes and too few people having access to transit,” stated Senator Wiener. “In California we talk a lot about where we don’t want to build homes, but rarely about where we do — until now. SB 79 unwinds decades of overly restrictive land use policies that have driven housing costs to astronomical levels, forcing millions of people to move far away from jobs and transit, to face massive commutes, or to leave California entirely. By allowing more homes to be built near public transportation, SB 79 also strengthens our transit systems, increases transit ridership, and reduces traffic congestion and carbon emissions. It’s been a long road to tackle these decades-old problems, but thanks to Governor Newsom’s leadership, today marks a new day for affordable housing and public transportation in California.”

“By signing SB 79, Governor Newsom took decisive action to fight our housing shortage and climate crisis,” stated Brian Hanlon, CEO of California YIMBY. “There is still more work to be done, but Governor Newsom just sent a clear message that California is ready to build a more affordable, sustainable, and prosperous future for everyone.”

“SB 79 marks a turning point in California’s transportation and land use policy. By signing this bill, Governor Gavin Newsom is advancing a smarter, healthier, and more equitable future for our state,” stated Marc Vukcevich, Director of State Policy, Streets For All. “Streets For All is honored to have sponsored SB 79, and we thank Senator Wiener and Governor Newsom for the imaginative and prescient and management in making California a spot the place affordability and transit are accessible for all.” 

“With his signature on SB 79, Governor Newsom has taken a major step towards fulfilling California’s promise to build the homes our communities so urgently need,” stated Mahdi Manji, Director of Public Policy for the Inner City Law Center. “SB 79 will promote housing affordability and livability in neighborhoods near high-quality transit and help thousands of families achieve their California dream. Inner City Law Center looks forward to working with local governments to implement this monumental law. We thank Governor Newsom for his leadership, the legislature for passing SB 79, and Senator Wiener for his tireless work as California’s strongest housing champion.”

“For too long, our biggest regions have banned the type of dense housing that we desperately need exactly where we need it most: near transit.” said Azeen Khanmalek, Executive Director of Abundant Housing LA. “With SB 79, we can build more homes, bring down the cost of housing, and have cleaner air and safer streets by providing more people better access to transit. SB 79 is not just a critical tool for solving our housing crisis, but also an investment in solving our climate crisis by bringing more homes to the core of our metro areas and avoiding environmentally damaging sprawl. Abundant Housing LA thanks Senator Wiener and Governor Newsom for their tireless leadership, and our cosponsors for their hard work.” 

“The governor’s signing of SB 79 is a watershed moment for land-use policy in California,” stated Jordan Grimes, State and Regional Resilience Manager. “By making it possible to build new multifamily homes near our major public transit stations, we are beginning to shift away from decades of harmful development patterns and move toward building a more sustainable and affordable future.  This critical change will help safeguard our natural and working lands while delivering lasting benefits for our climate, our environment, and our communities.  Greenbelt Alliance was proud to co-sponsor this transformative bill, and we thank Governor Newsom and Senator Wiener for their steadfast leadership on this issue.”

“The Bay Area Council was proud to cosponsor SB 79, which will allow more housing near transit and jobs,” stated Jim Wunderman, President and CEO of BAC. “Amid rising rents and already-too-high home prices, measures like these are critical to making housing more affordable, increasing ridership on transit, and giving people the option of living closer to where they work. his is critical to making the Bay Area the best place to live and work, and we thank Senator Wiener for being an incredible champion for the region’s housing and transportation needs.”

“In order to maximize the value of California’s investments in our public transportation systems, it is imperative that we ensure zoning for appropriate residential densities near major urban transit stops to boost ridership, meet our climate goals and provide the housing we desperately need in these location-efficient areas,” said Michael Lane, State Policy Director at SPUR. “We also must facilitate joint development opportunities on transit agency-owned land, as commonly practiced in other nations, in order to strengthen our transit system operations over the long term and attract private investment for transit-oriented development. SB 79 boldly delivers on both counts.”

SB 79 gives native flexibility and establishes safeguards for affordability, development wages, displacement, demolition, affect on low useful resource areas, historic preservation, wildfire danger, and sea degree rise.

California has the highest cost of living of any state, primarily as a consequence of our excessive housing scarcity. At the identical time, overly restrictive zoning legal guidelines stop hundreds of thousands of Californians from dwelling close to public transit, making prepare and bus techniques impractical for a lot of. Building an abundance of properties in any respect revenue ranges, in shut proximity to main transit stops, will handle our housing scarcity to decrease prices whereas making public transportation possible for hundreds of thousands of households to make use of. Building these properties begins with legalizing to construct multifamily housing close to main transit stops, also referred to as transit-oriented improvement.

Building on land owned by transit companies may even present urgently wanted monetary help for public transit. Many profitable transit companies in cities like Tokyo, Singapore, and Hong Kong increase income to help public transit by growing land that they personal. In Hong Kong, the strategy is so profitable that the transit company commonly turns a profit—in stark distinction to the various transit companies dealing with main finances shortfalls throughout California as a consequence of slowly recovering ridership and the state’s low degree of help for public transit in contrast with different jurisdictions.

Several jurisdictions outdoors of California have made progress in making transit-oriented improvement simpler: 

• Colorado requires cities to permit a mean of 40 dwelling models per acre inside a quarter-mile of transit. 
• Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority will need to have no less than one multifamily district permitting no less than 15 dwelling models per acre. 
• Utah requires a mean  density of fifty dwelling models per acre in transit reinvestment zones.

SB 79 units requirements for allowable housing improvement inside a half mile of prepare stops and main bus stops, also referred to as bus speedy transit (BRT) stops. SB 79 doesn’t apply round low frequency bus stops. The requirements are tiered to permit better top and density within the speedy neighborhood of essentially the most closely trafficked transit stops, and decrease ranges round much less trafficked forms of transit stops and within the surrounding areas

For Tier 1 stops — which embrace heavy rail traces like BART, Caltrain, and LA Metro’s B & D Lines — the state zoning requirements will probably be:

• Up to 9 tales adjoining to the cease
• 7 tales inside ¼ mile
• 6 tales between ¼ and ½ mile

For Tier 2 stops — which embrace mild rail like Sac RT and SF Muni, excessive frequency commuter rail like some Metrolink stations, and main bus transit that qualifies as bus-rapid transit underneath the state’s definition, or is served by a 24-hour bus-only lane) — the state zoning requirements will probably be: 

• 8 tales adjoining to the cease
• 6 tales inside ¼ mile
• 5 tales between ¼ and ½ mile

Transit oriented housing developments underneath SB 79 are eligible for the streamlined ministerial approvals course of underneath Senate Bill 423 (Wiener, 2023) in the event that they meet that legislation’s environmental, labor, and affordability requirements. Under SB 79, native governments would have flexibility to tailor their TOD areas and requirements in an alternate plan topic to oversight from the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD).

SB 79 is sponsored by Streets for All, California YIMBY, Greenbelt Alliance, SPUR, Abundant Housing LA, Inner City Law Center, and the Bay Area Council. 

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