California must build more residences to address its housing shortage. One solution, AB 1633 by Assemblymember Phil Ting (D-San Francisco), is on its way to the Governor, after final legislative approval today. The bill strengthens the state’s Housing Accountability Act (HAA) so that neighbors and local jurisdictions can no longer abuse the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to unnecessarily delay or block housing projects, if all legal requirements have been met.
“We’re in a housing crisis, and we can no longer afford to let opponents of a development abuse CEQA to unnecessarily prolong the approval process that prevent projects from moving forward. That only keeps the availability of housing units low and prices high,” said Ting.
AB 1633 promotes climate-friendly infill housing in the most location-efficient areas, and opponents would no longer be allowed to require “more study,” once legally-sufficient environmental review has been conducted.