Terner Center for Housing Innovation

This week's California Climate newsletter from POLITICO features an exclusive on our new report analyzing pro-housing laws in six states across the country: “The jury’s still out on how effective these programs are,” said Shazia Manji, co-author of the report. “What matters here is how much funding is on the line and what those funds can be used for. The experience in California suggests that penalizing cities that don’t want to build more housing by withholding funding for housing is not necessarily going to be an effective tool.”

Yesterday, Terner Center published a comparison of six states that have recently enacted "pro-housing designation programs" aimed at getting localities to allow more housing. Short story is that states are mostly designing and running these programs really poorly - accepting cities' representation that particular policies will work or asking for proof of permitting progress that can't possibly be attributed to the current elected leadership. Both approaches are probably needed, but have to be done more thoughtfully: ie, demonstrating enacted policies only makes sense if somebody is actually modelling whether the policies will work in the local context and showing permitting growth only make sense as a back-end true up and evaluatory tool.

In the face of today’s housing crisis, state governments are taking a more active role in encouraging local policy change to increase housing production and affordability. State-level pro-housing designation programs incentivize or require localities to pursue policies that facilitate housing production. A new Terner Center report profiles six early-stage programs across the country—in California, Massachusetts, Montana, New Hampshire, New York, and Utah—offering vital lessons to other states seeking housing solutions.

🌆 New California Housing Laws That Take Effect This 2025 🌆 I'm excited to publish the Terner Center for Housing Innovation's annual legislative round up. These new laws aim to increase housing production, strengthen enforcement, address homelessness, and make even more room for ADUs! 🏘️ Read my full analysis here: https://lnkd.in/gk8KVi8f It's been a busy month...

More than 60 housing-related bills became California law in 2024, most of which will take effect in  January 2025. A new Terner Center commentary by Muhammad T. Alameldin provides an overview of this legislation poised to shape housing outcomes in many ways–including accelerating housing production, strengthening housing law enforcement, addressing homelessness, and building more Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs). Read the commentary: https://lnkd.in/gGpPwmYP

On Monday, November 4, at 11 a.m., the Terner Center will host a webinar discussing the Governor’s final decisions on major housing legislation, and the non-legislative changes that will impact the housing landscape in 2025. The webinar will include a panel discussion hosted by Muhammad T. Alameldin, featuring speakers Graciela Castillo-Krings of Sacramento Advocates, Inc, Nolan Gray of California YIMBY, and Dante Golden of the San Diego Housing Federation, and a presentation of our upcoming commentary about the year ahead in housing legislation. Join us for this timely discussion! https://lnkd.in/gyhwQgyb

Interested in helping shape the future of housing in California? Our new Project Policy Analyst position will support the California Social Housing Study, a multi-year project exploring opportunities, resources, and obstacles around the creation of social housing at scale in the state of California. Learn more and apply at our website: https://lnkd.in/g2RqMzh

International models for social housing have gained relevance in the US in recent years. Policymakers and practitioners, increasingly frustrated by slow market-rate housing construction and limited funding for affordable housing, are exploring alternative models abroad. A commentary by our Managing Director Ben Metcalf on the Terner Center blog explores the history of 20th century Italian social housing, the differences between the US and Italian housing contexts, and what lessons this might offer as we navigate the housing crisis. Ben will speak about these insights tomorrow, Saturday October 19, at a public talk at UC Berkeley. Details here: https://lnkd.in/gDkysfPW

Earlier this month, our Associate Research Director Zack Subin summarized the findings of an article he and co-authors from RMI and Berkeley Lab published in Buildings & Cities making the case for states to consider land use reform an essential strategy for climate action. Read more on our blog:

Local, state, and federal policymakers are increasingly exploring opportunities to make use of public properties to address nationwide housing shortages. Our new commentary, “Repurposing Public Land for Housing: An Analysis of California's United States Postal Service Sites,” provides estimates of the amount of USPS land which might be suitable for housing. Our analysis finds that of USPS’ 603 sites in California, 53 are near public transit, in majority residential, high opportunity areas, and over 20,000 square feet in size, making them strong candidates for housing development.