Fresh starts on starter homes

Renter Free looks at efforts in the California and Arizona legislatures to pass bills peeling back local regulations on small-lot, affordable starter homes.

In 2021 , the California Legislature passed the high-profile, much-praised Senate Bill 9 , which effectively ended single-family-only zoning statewide.

Three years in, the actual results of S.B. 9 have been far less productive than hoped than hoped.

S.B. 9's streamlined approvals apply only to single-family-zoned districts.

San Francisco attempted to eliminate single family zoning on paper as a means of continuing to apply more restrictive discretionary approval processes.

A report released yesterday by advocacy group YIMBY Law found that just 235 projects were entitled in 2023 , and only 110 projects (totaling 140 units) received building permits.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass discusses her first -hand experience using the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to block projects on pretextual environmental grounds is making the rounds on social media.

An old interview from 2023 shows Bass ' comments highlighting the difficulty of reforming CEQA and other "veto points" in the housing production process.

HUD fears cuts to staff inspired by Department of Government Efficiency ( DOGE ) will harm the department's crucial missions.