California Assembly Advances Bill To Eliminate Single-Family Zoning
Senate Bill 9 Would Allow Duplexes on Detached Home Lots To Address State’s Housing Crisis
The California Assembly passed Senate Bill 9, which would allow duplexes on single-family lots. (Getty Images)
By Randyl Drummer
CoStar News
August 26, 2021 | 3:06 P.M.
The California Assembly advanced a measure aimed at chipping away at the state’s worsening housing shortage by banning single-family zoning that critics say has contributed to steep increases in housing costs.
Senate Bill 9 would allow property owners to subdivide up to four units or duplexes on a single-family lot without requiring hearings or approvals from cities.
The bill authored by Senate President Pro Tempore Toni Atkins, a San Diego Democrat, passed the Assembly by a 44-19 vote on Thursday.
Senate Bill 9 and a related measure passed by the Assembly this week aiming to cut red tape and allow cities to open new areas to medium-density housing are expected to return to the state Senate next week for a concurrence vote before heading to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk.
The Democratic governor, who faces a Sept. 14 recall election, has not indicated publicly whether he intends to sign the bills, and his office did not respond to requests for comment. Newsom campaigned for office three years ago seeking to add 3.5 million housing units by 2025.
Local government officials, community activists and progressive groups called on Newsom to oppose the bills. They said the zoning changes would undermine local control over their housing, worsen traffic and parking woes and allow developers to build more expensive rentals when California needs more affordable housing.
"In 20 years when we haven’t dealt with the consequences of bills like this on transportation, utilities and parking, we’re going to be devastating these communities," Adrin Nazarian, an Assembly member from the suburban Sherman Oaks neighborhood of L.A.'s San Fernando Valley, said on the Assembly floor on Thursday. "My community will go downhill."
Wendy Carrillo, a Democrat from East Los Angeles, described the bill as a modest solution in response to "Not In My Backyard," or NIMBY, the popular characterization of anti-development positions.
"We're seeing the lies about this bill on social media," Carrillo said. "The people say 'yes, we want to build, just don’t build here, go build over there.' Enough."
California YIMBY, a nonprofit group working to end the state's housing shortage that sponsors the two bills, said Senate Bill 9 will significantly increase the most populous state's affordable housing supply.
“By making it legal to build duplexes and allow the division of single-family properties into two properties, many more middle-class Californians will be able to afford to buy their first home," California YIMBY CEO Brian Hanlon said in a statement.
The Legislature, where Democrats hold majorities in both houses, has advanced several bills that are aimed at cutting regulations and costs to developers and increasing density.
California needs to build an estimated 1.8 million to 2.5 million new homes just to keep up with population growth by 2025, according to a study three years ago by the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at University of California, Berkeley.