California’s 2025 Housing Laws: What You Need to Know

California’s 2025 Housing Laws: What You Need to Know

Holland & Knight Alert
November 5, 2024

As in previous years, California saw a significant volume of new housing legislation emerge from Sacramento in 2024. (See Holland & Knight’s previous annual recaps of California Housing Laws in the final section below.) This Holland & Knight alert takes a closer look at some of the most significant housing laws that the California Legislature passed and Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed into law, grouped into following categories

Newsom vetoes bill to fast-track office-to-housing conversions

Newsom vetoes bill to fast-track office-to-housing conversions

By J.K. Dineen
Sep 28, 2024

Developers hoping for a faster and easier path to converting empty office buildings to housing in California’s downtowns will have to wait for another legislative session after Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed legislation that would have fast-tracked such projects.
The measure, AB3068, would have expedited adaptive reuse projects by mandating by-right approval for projects converting offices to residential or mixed-use in city centers.

Newsom says he’ll sign bill slamming cities that run afoul of California housing laws

Newsom says he’ll sign bill slamming cities that run afoul of California housing laws

By Hillel Aron
September 4, 2024

California Governor Gavin Newsom said Wednesday he plans to sign a bill that would strengthen the state attorney general’s power to fine cities that flout state housing laws.
Once Senate Bill 1037 goes into effect, the attorney general can seek penalties that would be assessed from the date that the housing law violation began. Those much larger fines will now go toward building affordable housing in the jurisdiction being penalized.

California’s Legislature Has Turned on the People

California’s Legislature Has Turned on the People

By Katy Grimes,
September 3, 2024

Have you ever been stabbed in the back by a friend? You trusted them, supported them, and they turned on you. You never saw it coming. And you ask “what happened?”
California’s Supermajority Democrat lawmakers now work against governing the state, and work against the will of the people. Did you see it coming, or were you caught off guard?

Newsom vetoes bill to fast-track office-to-housing conversions

Newsom wants California to be a bastion of democracy. Except where Prop 47 is concerned

By Emily Hoeven
July 1, 2024

Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democratic legislative leaders really, really don’t want California voters to approve a November ballot measure to roll back parts of Proposition 47, the controversial 2014 initiative that reduced some theft and drug crimes from felonies to misdemeanors.
In fact, they’re so desperate to prevent the measure from succeeding that they’re willing to subvert and twist the very process they claim to revere more than anything else — democracy — to achieve their aims.

These New California Housing Laws Are Going Into Effect in 2024

These New California Housing Laws Are Going Into Effect in 2024

Erin Baldassari
Jan 2, 2024

In 2017, California lawmakers broke through a longstanding logjam of anti-housing sentiment, unleashing 15 landmark bills that sought to boost new construction across the state. Six years later, the 2023 legislative session saw 56 housing bills signed into law, evidence the tide has yet to turn on efforts to increase home affordability in the state.