SB 35 & SB 79: Wiener Paves the Road to Affordable Housing

SB 35 was good intentioned, it punished municipalities that failed to meet their Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA, pronounced REE-nah) by stripping away their right of ministerial approval. What was supposed to happen was more affordable housing units were going to be built but developers quickly mastered its core features and what we ended up with was lots of new units of market rate housing and some affordable housing too.

SB 35’s only real constraints were the “affordable” requirements; in order to qualify for streamlining, projects had to set aside a percentage of units for lower-income households (e.g., 10% for rental projects in most areas). However, developers quickly mastered the math and were happy to set aside 10% of a project for affordable housing to get the massive profits from market rate units.

SB 35 was a classic example of power being held by the government to protect its citizens from developers, citizens take said power just to hand it back to developers; it was supposed to be a lesson not a template. And now its back and glowed up as SB 79.

SB 79 starts by removing RHNA trigger entirely. It bypasses city council and planning commission by creating “TOD zoning,” a one-size-fits-all mandate that transfers zoning authority for land near transit stops to the state and transit agencies. This means an already overburdened Department of Housing and Community Development would impose state-mandated density and height limits, stripping local municipalities of their power to shape their own communities.

The people making the decisions are unelected members of local transit boards. Not people who have to answer to voters. Not people who understand the neighborhoods they are replacing. They may be people that have a financial interest in the area. This isn’t progress or a solution—it’s a power grab disguised as policy.

Then there’s the affordability aspect. SB 79 requires that 7% of units be set aside for extremely low-income households. Seven percent. And there’s no meaningful requirement to keep those units affordable over time—no teeth to prevent developers from flipping them to market rate a few years down the line. I’ve seen this movie before. It always ends the same way: a few token affordable units get built, everyone pats themselves on the back, and then—surreptitiously—the neighborhood changes until the people who made it a community in the first place can’t afford to stay.

Thankfully we have data on this. After SB 35 passed 2018, displacement jumped by nearly a third in neighborhoods near new transit stops. That isn’t an accident—it’s by design. When you prioritize speed and density over people, you get displacement. It’s that simple.

But the biggest insult is the bill’s enforcement plan—or lack of one. The Department of Housing and Community Development is supposed to “oversee compliance,” . But they have no real power, no dedicated funding, and no mechanism to hold anyone accountable. It’s all bark and no bite. The state has no way to ensure developers actually follow through on their promises. It’s a system built on trust in an industry that runs on leverage.

At its core, SB 79 isn’t about solving the housing crisis. It’s about making it easier to build, faster and with less pushback. But speed isn’t the same as justice. Efficiency isn’t equity. If we’re serious about building communities that are truly affordable and inclusive, we need to start listening to the people who live in them—not just the people who want to build over them.

Henry David Thoreau once observed, “It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.” I’ve negotiated enough deals to know that if it isn’t in the contract, it doesn’t exist. SB 79 is full of suggestions and short on requirements. It seems that the only lesson Weiner learned from SB 35 was how to make developers happy.

America Foy is a real estate and development executive with 20+ years of experience bridging public and private sector initiatives. As Chief Real Estate & Development Officer at Where Ever Cogent, he specializes in asset optimization, strategic philanthropy, and complex transaction management. He is a CA Real Estate Broker, General Contractor, and Mortgage Broker.

Consulting Inquiries: america@whereever.net

Sources:

1. UC Berkeley Terner Center - SB 35 Comprehensive Study (2023)
   • Source: "Streamlining Multifamily Housing Production in California: Progress Implementing SB 35"
   • URL: https://ternercenter.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Terner-Center-SB-35-Paper-August-2023-Final.pdf
   • Key data: Analyzed 2018-2021 Annual Progress Reports on SB 35 usage
2. California Department of Housing and Community Development - Annual Progress Reports Data
   • Source: HCD APR Database and Dashboard
   • URL: https://www.hcd.ca.gov/planning-and-community-development/housing-elements/annual-progress-reports
   • Contains jurisdiction-level data on housing production 2018-present
3. UC Berkeley Urban Displacement Project
   • Source: urbandisplacement.org research database
   • URL: https://www.urbandisplacement.org/research/
   • Has displacement mapping and gentrification data near transit

SB 79 Specific Requirements:

1. California Legislative Information - SB 79 Full Text (2025)
   • Source: LegScan California Bill Tracking
   • URL: https://legiscan.com/CA/text/SB79/2025
   • Confirms 7% affordable housing requirement you cited
2. Western Center on Law & Poverty - SB 79 Opposition Analysis
   • Source: WCLP Housing Policy Analysis
   • URL: https://wclp.org/category/affordable-housing/
   • Critiques inadequate affordability requirements
3. California Association of Councils of Governments - SB 79 Opposition Letter
   • Source: CALCOG Official Position
   • URL: https://calcog.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/July3-Oppose-Letter-Final.pdf
   • Details concerns about local control and affordability

Displacement and Transit Development Research:

1. UC Berkeley Anti-Eviction Mapping Project - "Densifying Berkeley" Report (2022)
   • Source: Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board
   • URL: https://rentboard.berkeleyca.gov/sites/default/files/2022-05/Anti-Eviction%20Mapping%20Project_UpzoningReport_REV_FINAL_03-22-2022.pdf
   • Documents displacement impacts from upzoning policies
2. California's Housing Future Report (2018)
   • Source: California HCD Strategic Housing Assessment
   • URL: https://www.hcd.ca.gov/policy-research/plans-reports/docs/sha_final_combined.pdf
   • Pre-SB 35 baseline data on housing production and displacement