Gov. on Sept. 29 signed a package of housing and homelessness bills; the governor’s office described the measures as steps to accelerate construction, cut permitting delays and expand affordable and recovery-oriented housing.
The administration pointed to recent state tallies as evidence the approach is working: annual residential construction rose 59% from 2018 to 2024; the state recorded an 8,391-person, 6.8% drop in unsheltered homelessness from 2024 to 2025, which the office called the largest numerical reduction of any state; and more than 110,000 people exited programs funded by the Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention grants from January 2023 through March 2026. The governor’s Housing Accountability Unit, the office said, has "unlocked" 14,059 housing units, including 4,004 affordable units, that had been held up in local planning processes.
The new laws change how housing gets approved and built. They limit repeated plan-check reviews and tighten appeal timelines for permits; they create a limited property-tax incentive pilot for new rental housing serving moderate-income households in Alameda and Sacramento counties and the City and County of San Francisco; and they establish a streamlined approval path for qualifying townhome developments. The package also adjusts building-code treatment, inspections and state financing rules for factory-built housing, and it eases local approval rules for energy-code-compliant residential window replacements.
Two large redevelopment projects were singled out. The Concord Community Reuse Project is planned to deliver at least 10,000 homes, including at least 25% affordable units; the redevelopment of the former Sports Arena site in San Diego is supported as a project planned to include at least 4,250 homes, including 2,000 affordable homes plus an entertainment venue, open space and commercial uses.
The governor highlighted specific bills including AB 1294 and AB 1556 by Assemblymember , AB 1621, AB 1751, AB 1815, AB 2058 and AB 2185, and SB 328, SB 344, SB 908 and SB 958 by members of the Legislature; the administration provided a longer list and said full texts and the signing message are available from the office.
The figures and results in the release are state counts and come from the governor’s office; the release does not include independent verification or detail on which local jurisdictions will change practice first, and other economic and federal funding factors may also affect housing starts and homelessness trends. Readers should view the administration’s outcomes as its account of recent progress rather than as independently audited results.
What readers can expect next: some jurisdictions should face shorter permit timelines if they follow the new rules; the property-tax pilot applies only in the two counties and San Francisco named in the bill; factory-built housing projects may face fewer duplicative inspections and different state financing treatment; and large redevelopment projects named in the package will move toward new approvals but still require project-level permitting and financing to reach construction.
State
Gavin Newsom
Governor · Democrat
Named 2 times in this story.
Portrait: Official portrait
State
Matt Haney
State Assembly Member · Democrat
Named once in this story.
Portrait: Official portrait
Sources & methodology
This report was written from the primary materials below. Links open at the original publisher.
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