California Senate Bill 79 (SB 79), titled the Abundant and Affordable Homes Near Transit Act, is a 2025 California law that legalizes the construction of multi-story multi-family housing within of public transit stations by preempting local government control of land zoning in the intervening area.
SB 79 and preceding bills have been authored by state senator Scott Wiener and have been sponsored by California YIMBY, a pro-housing lobbying group, while they have been opposed by local governments, anti-gentrification activists, and suburban homeowners. The bills are written in support of transit-oriented development in response to an ongoing housing affordability crisis in California's largest urban areas.
Wiener first introduced the bill in January 2018 as Senate Bill 827 (SB 827), which would have applied to areas within of frequent transit corridors, including rail stations and bus routes, as well as jobs centers. SB 827 failed to advance from the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee in April 2018, effectively killing it. In 2019 and 2020, Senator Wiener attempted to pass California Senate Bill 50 (SB 50), a revised successor to SB 827, multiple times both in committee and on the senate floor, culminating in an unsuccessful floor vote on January 31, 2020, which resulted in the bill's demise. A light-touch version, Senate Bill 902 (SB 902), passed the Senate in 2020 but died in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. SB 79 was introduced by Wiener in the 2025 session, where it passed in both houses.
The 2021 California HOME Act (drafted by Wiener) and 2022 AB 2097 (drafted by Laura Friedman), both signed into law by Newsom, accomplished some of the same aims as SB 827 and SB 50, by allowing lot splits of single-family houses up to four units per lot (regardless of single-family zoning) as well as banning parking minimums within of transit stops, respectively.
On October 10, 2025, SB 79 was signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom and took effect on July 1, 2026.
Background
California housing shortage
California housing costs are among the most unaffordable in the United States. In 2018, the median San Jose home cost 10 times the median household income; Los Angeles homes cost 9.5 times; San Francisco homes cost 8.9 times; San Diego homes cost 8.1 times."The State of the Nation's Housing 2018" "Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University" Retrieved March 13, 2019. California is the most expensive state to rent in, in the United States.Hoffower, Hillary "The Salary you need to afford rent in every state, ranked" "Business Insider" November 26, 2018. Retrieved March 12, 2019.
California has had a housing shortage since 1970 and ranks 49th among 50 states for housing units per capita."A Tool Kit To Close California's Housing Gap: 3.5 Million Homes by 2025" Accessed March 8, 2019. The problem has worsened following the Great Recession as housing development fell to 40,000 units in 2009 and has not reached pre-recession levels.Dillon, Liam "Gov. Brown just signed 15 housing bills. Here's how that's supposed to help the affordability crisis" "Los Angeles Times," September 29, 2017. Retrieved March 12, 2019 California needs approximately 180,000 units per year to match current growth. Slow housing development combined with high housing demand has increased housing costs in every city in California.
The state's high rent prices have translated into increased homelessness, more households spending half their income on housing, and an exodus of low and middle income households leaving to states with lower cost of living.Del Valle, Gaby "How rising rents contribute to homelessness" "Vox" December 14, 2018. Retrieved March 13, 2019. The housing shortage negatively impacts the California economy.
Multiple state (and, in some cases, local) laws have been enacted since 1980 to reduce the shortage, with a greater number of reforms being passed since 2017: some reduced the fees and bureaucracy involved in creating ADUs, lot splits and duplexes, while others have added fees to real-estate document recording to finance low-income housing; others incentivized localities to allow higher density development closer to target locations or prevented certain practices by local governments which stifled densification.See the section on State Responses for more detail about the above-mentioned legislation, with all sources cited.
When running for governor in 2017, Newsom announced his target of constructing 3.5 million homes statewide by 2025. This would require a quadrupling of the current rate of building to almost 400,000 units per year, a rate the state has not experienced since 1954. By 2023, only about 650,000 permits were taken out for new homes since Newsom had taken office. He revised his 2026 target downward to 2.5 million homes when running for re-election in 2022.
Transit-oriented development
In 2008, Arnold Schwarzenegger signed Senate Bill 375, which encourages transit-oriented development to reduce vehicle miles travelled in the state and to address climate change. The bill was created to help achieve the greenhouse gas reduction goals of the 2006 bill Assembly Bill 32.
Existing state law grants the authority for local zoning from the police power in Article XI, Section 7 of the California Constitution, giving cities and counties local discretion in controlling land use. Localities have exercised these zoning powers in residential areas in various ways; while land in California cities has been historically limited to low density housing (by being zoned for single-family homes and since 2016, single-family homes and up to a 1,200 square foot secondary unit), city and county governments can allow higher density zoning, if they choose. For example, in 2018, the LA County Metro Board of Directors created the Transit Oriented Communities (TOC) program after the passage of Measure JJJ in November 2016, which allows for land zoned for commercial development near transit stations to be developed into residential housing, with between 11 and 27 percent of units required to be reserved for affordable housing.
Legislative history
Summary +LegislatureSummaryShort titleBill numberDate introducedSponsor(s) and co-author(s)Status2017–2018 sessionAn act to add Chapter 4.35 (commencing with Section 65918.5) to Division 1 of Title 7 of the Government Code, relating to land use.Planning and zoning: transit-rich housing bonus.Senate Bill 827January 03, 2018Sen. Scott Wiener, Ben Hueso; Assem. Phil TingDefeated in Senate Transportation and Housing Committee April 21, 2018 (6–4)2019–2020 sessionAn act to amend Section 65589.5 of, to add Sections 65913.5 and 65913.6 to, and to add Chapter 4.35 (commencing with Section 65918.50) to Division 1 of Title 7 of, the Government Code, relating to housing.Planning and zoning: housing development: streamlined approval: incentives. ("More HOMES (Housing, Opportunity, Mobility, Equity, Stability) Act")Senate Bill 50December 3, 2018Sens. Scott Wiener, Anna Caballero, Ben Hueso, Mike McGuire, John Moorlach, Nancy Skinner, Richard Roth; Assem. Kansen Chu, Tyler Diep, Vince Fong, Ash Kalra, Kevin Kiley, Evan Low, Kevin McCarty, Sharon Quirk-Silva, Robert Rivas, Phil Ting, and Buffy WicksDefeated on Senate floor January 31, 2020 (18–15–6)An act to add Section 65913.3 to the Government Code, relating to land use.Planning and zoning: housing development: density.Senate Bill 902January 30, 2020Sen. Scott Wiener; Assem. Toni AtkinsPassed by the Senate floor June 22, 2020 (33–3–4); died in Assembly Appropriations Committee2025–2026 sessionAn act to add Chapter 4.1.5 (commencing with Section 65912.155) to Division 1 of Title 7 of the Government Code, relating to land use.Housing development: transit-oriented development. ("Abundant & Affordable Homes Near Transit Act")Senate Bill 79January 15, 2025Sen. Scott Wiener; Assem. Matt Haney, Alex Lee, Buffy WicksPassed by the Senate June 3, 2025 (21–13–6); Passed by the Assembly September 11, 2025 (43–19–18); Senate concurred with Assembly amendments September 12, 2025 (21–8–11); signed into law October 10, 2025.
Senate Bill 827 (2018)
Scott Wiener, a freshman state senator and former supervisor representing San Francisco, introduced Senate Bill 827 on the first day of the 2018 legislative session. Wiener had previously authored Senate Bill 35, a bill to streamline the approval process for residential projects, which was passed by the legislature in 2017.
Under SB 827, cities in California would have been required to permit residential buildings of up to in "transit rich" areas near train stations and bus stops. The bill would have also eliminated minimum requirements for parking and prohibited local design requirements that would lower the amount of space in a new development. The bill would have affected roughly 50 percent of single-family homes in Los Angeles and 96 percent of land in San Francisco.
A similar bill, Senate Bill 828, was introduced by Wiener to amend market-rate housing requirements for local governments and avoided much of the controversy that affected SB 827. Another bill, Assembly Bill 2923, was announced in March 2018 and would require the Bay Area Rapid Transit system (serving the San Francisco Bay Area) to adopt zoning standards that would be accepted by cities and local jurisdictions.
The first revisions to the bill were made in late February, adding pro-tenant provisions to prevent demolition of existing housing and other protections. In April 2018, the bill was amended to reduce the maximum height in "transit rich" areas to approximately four to five stories and remove bus stops with non-frequent service outside of peak periods. The bill was brought to the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee in April, where it was rejected by a vote of 6–4.
Senate Bill 50 (2019-2020)
2019
Senator Wiener announced that he intended to introduce an updated version of the bill with a new number, 50, in the 2019 legislative session, and described the bill as the "More HOMES (Housing, Opportunity, Mobility, Equity, Stability) Act". Senate Bill 50 had the same sponsors as Senate Bill 827.
Wiener added amendments that exempted counties with populations under 600,000 from transit rezoning provisions in a compromise with Marin County senator Mike McGuire. The final bill required similar rezoning near transit, four-plex zoning statewide, and additional rezoning in "jobs-rich" areas.
In May 2019, Anthony Portantino, chair of the senate appropriations committee, made Senate Bill 50 into a two-year bill with a pocket veto, meaning it would not be eligible for consideration again until the 2020 legislative session.
2020 Senator Wiener reintroduced Senate Bill 50 in January 2020 with additional amendments that gave cities the ability to opt out of its rezoning provisions providing they built the state-mandated amount of housing.
Senator Portantino, who had blocked the bill in 2019, objected to not being consulted about amendments to the bill and said Wiener did not adopt suggestions from an alternative blueprint developed by a coalition of Southern California governments. Toni Atkins, president pro tempore of the senate, used parliamentary powers to maneuver the bill out of Senator Portantino's committee to prevent it from being blocked from appearing on the senate floor again.
Following debate in the senate, Senate Bill 50 was defeated on January 31, 2020, after multiple vote attempts garnered at most 18 votes, three shy of the 21 needed to pass into the state assembly. Six senators were absent or abstained from voting.
SB 902 (2020)