Naughty & Nice: CA Edition
A data-driven look at which California cities said yes to housing—and which ones earned coal
The following is a cross-post from YIMBY Action California Director, Leora Tanjuatco Ross — enjoy!
A city’s elected officials and staff have significant power over how much housing gets built in their community. Builders can even get free land on which to build homes, but only when city leadership is committed to making their city more affordable.
Of course, not all cities make it easy to build new housing. Some CA cities perfect the art of making it downright impossible to build.
If YIMBY Santa were to rank CA’s 482 cities by how easily they allow new homes, these would be his Top 5 Naughty & Nice lists:
Naughty:
Los Altos Hills: In response to pressure from state housing laws, this wealthy enclave (median home value: $5.6M) reluctantly upzoned a centrally-located vacant lot to allow 600 condominiums. When the developer proposed to build these 600 condos, everyone freaked out and the town down-zoned the lot back down to just 100 units, an amount that is not financially feasible to build.
Carmel: This coastal town planned to build affordable housing on their downtown parking lots. But after facing backlash, the town submitted a fake, unenforceable plan to convert existing hotels into affordable housing.
La Canada Flintridge: This city received its first multi-family housing proposal in a decade, and it wasted millions of taxpayer dollars trying to stop it in court, against the advice of their city attorney. Although the proposal was “entitled” this fall, La Canada Flintridge found new ways to delay the development during the permitting process.
Sausalito: This city re-zoned multiple sites, in accordance with state law, then figured out which sites were viable because developers started calling and submitting applications to build on them. The city didn’t deem any of the applications complete, but they did downzone the newly viable sites, making all the potential new buildings now illegal.
Cupertino: Several developers submitted building applications in this town, the home of Apple’s headquarters. Some applications were denied, prompting the state to step in. Cupertino sent a letter back to the state, saying it “disagrees with the conclusions” made. There’s been no rebuttal from the state yet.
Nice:
Santa Ana: This city has permitted 4,000 out of 3,100 homes it is required to build before 2029! Going above and beyond?? We love to see it!
Murrieta: This city has handed out 1,700 building permits, out of a required 3,000 by 2029. Good thing YIMBY Santa is a Bon Jovi fan because Murrieta is half way there!
La Quinta: There’s no coal in La Quinta’s stocking this year. This city has issued 910 building permits, out of a required 1,500.
Monrovia: Ho ho hold up—this city has already handed out 1,100 building permits! It only needs 600 more by the end of 2029.
Citrus Heights: This city has unwrapped 421 building permits out of 697— YIMBY Santa must be busy delivering some brand-new homes this holiday season!
If you want to see how your city is shaping up on housing, search for your city on our Fair Housing Elements Tracker.
Want to get involved? Join us as a watchdog and help us make that list and check it twice!
Please keep an eye on Santa Rosa. Perfectly lovely people become unwelcoming when faced with development in their own neighborhood. New housing is actually stabilizing and even bringing down rents and to some extent purchase prices, and we desperately need additional kids and additional tax base to fund schools and city services.