Staff Report
August 20, 2025
The Los Angeles City Council voted 8–5 on Monday to oppose Senate Bill 79, a contentious housing density proposal from state Sen. Scott Wiener of San Francisco that would limit cities’ authority over local development, according to a press release from CD 11 Councilwoman Traci Park’s office.
by Grace Gormley
August 1, 2025
Menlo Park-based builder Acclaim Companies has revised its proposal for a housing complex at 762 San Antonio Road, a 197-apartment development that will go up in an area next to the Mountain View border where Palo Alto is trying to encourage housing growth. The new proposal has a larger facade, fewer affordable housing units and a roof deck, but will remain seven stories tall, with the five upper stories serving as housing and the lower two as amenities and a garage with 252 parking stalls.
by Riley Cooke
July 28, 2025
A contentious state bill to encourage denser housing near public transit has been revised to give local governments more control over where that housing is built in an effort to appease skeptics who are concerned about overrides to local zoning.
by Gennady Sheyner
June 11, 2025
An ambitious and divisive housing bill that seeks to encourage taller and denser developments near transit lines survived a key vote in the state Senate last week with the assistance of state Sen. Josh Becker, though its ultimate fate remains uncertain is it moves to the Assembly.
Andrew Keatts
June 4, 2025
California’s most significant attempt to supercharge dense homebuilding is closer than ever to passage.
Why it matters: The state’s housing shortage and affordability crisis could be beginning to translate into significant policy changes. State of play: SB 79, authored by state Sen. Scott Wiener, passed the Senate Tuesday and now moves to the Assembly for approval. The bill would allow private developers to build dense apartment buildings between four to seven stories near transit stops, regardless of local development restrictions.
By DAN WALTERS
May 29, 2025
Last week, the California Senate appeared to double down on making housing development more difficult and costly, shunting a bill aimed at making it easier to build housing for lower-income families by exempting some projects from the California Environmental Quality Act.