Housing advocates and researchers say the laws could help create hundreds of thousands of new market-rate and affordable homes in the Bay Area.
Flanked by lawmakers, housing advocates and labor leaders, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday in San Francisco signed two bills making it easier to redevelop underused shopping centers, office buildings and parking lots into new apartments, condos and townhomes.
Housing advocates and researchers say the laws, which go into effect July 1, could help create over 2 million market-rate and affordable homes across the state and“This is a moment on a journey to reconcile the original sin, the original sin of the state of California, and that is the issue of housing affordability,” Newsom said during a bill signing event at a former funeral home in San Francisco set to become a 98-unit affordable housing complex.
AB 2011 will streamline that approval process for 100% affordable projects on most properties currently zoned for retail, offices or parking. The law also speeds up approvals of developments that include at least 15% low-income units on commercial property along busy business corridors, including El Camino Real in the South Bay and Shattuck Avenue in Berkeley.
SB 6, meanwhile, bypasses rezoning requirements for new multifamily housing on commercial property regardless of affordability levels. But unlike AB 2011, it doesn’t exempt projects from full local planning and environmental review processes before approval.Livable California
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