People for Housing - OC YIMBY

08/21/2026

We want to build more housing, but we are hamstrung by our own processes

We say we want to build more housing, we want to pay better wages, we want to prevent displacement, etc. and in pursuing so many goals at once, we become blocked by our own processes put there largely in good faith. Take this except from the book Abundance that goes into the uphill challenge an LA developer faces in getting housing built:

Then there are the higher standards that public money requires developers to meet. "We're required to pay prevailing wages, so there's at least a 20 or 30% premium on the labor costs," Tong says. "We have sustainability requirements we need to maintain. I've had projects where the planning department required a higher-quality air ventilation system because we were a certain distance from the freeway. All the affordable housing development is subject to Green building requirements. The standards in California are higher than anywhere else in the country. And you are not just required to build to the standard, you also need to hire a consultant to confirm you've built to the standard. That adds costs." Every one of these is a worthy goal but so too is building a lot of affordable housing quickly and cheaply. Los Angeles is failing, and failing badly, at doing that. Given that failure, does it make sense to be asking for special air filtration systems for developments near freeways when the alternative, for many of the would-be residents, is a tent beneath the freeway? To pose the question sounds callous. But to refuse to pose the question, given the need for more housing, is cruel.

The clip is from Prog G Podcast by Scott Galloway featuring Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson (the authors of Abundance)

08/21/2026

S**G has a significant influence over where housing production happens across Southern California.

California plans housing production via the Regional Housing Needs Assessment/Allocation (RHNA) process. As part of the RHNA process, the state gives each MPO (like S**G) a single number for the whole region that must be distributed among all localities. Cities call this number their “Ree-Nah number.”



Southern California Association of Governments

Sources:
https://fampo.gwregion.org/about/the-mpo/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_planning_organization
https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/metropolitan-planning-organizations-make-decisions-about-transportation-options
https://scag.ca.gov/rhna

08/17/2026

Rising Housing Costs Prevent OC Residents from Achieving the American Dream, the new UCI-OC Poll Finds.

For generations, Orange County, California, has symbolized the American Dream, variously defined by OC residents as financial security, homeownership and family, and freedom and independence. No matter how the American Dream is defined, residents unanimously agree that it has become harder to achieve due to rising housing costs and cost of living. That sentiment is shared across ethnic communities; however, there is a sharp divide between residents under 45 and those over 45, with younger people deeming it more difficult. The majority of existing homeowners believe that the American Dream is still possible, while the majority of renters are less sure. The majority of Millennials and Gen Z report they are delaying major life decisions because of cost of living challenges. 

Orange County is facing a dire housing shortage that not only drives up housing costs but also contributes to residents' increased cost of living, requiring people to drive farther and commute longer. It doesn’t have to be this way! We can build more housing to ensure that current and future OC residents can attain the American Dream like the previous generations could.

Source: https://issuu.com/ucisocialecology/docs/uci-oc_poll_a_dream_divided

08/14/2026

Today marked the first meeting of S**G's RHNA Subcommittee for the 7th Cycle: the start of the process that determines how much housing each of the 191 cities and 6 counties in the S**G region will plan for in the years ahead.

A few things stood out to us.

The timeline is moving up. Thanks to recent state legislation, this work is kicking off a full year earlier than last cycle, and S**G is targeting its final allocation roughly six months ahead of its original schedule. The practical result: cities should have about 18 months, rather than the usual 12, to update their housing elements. More lead time is genuinely good news for thoughtful local planning.

The 17-member Subcommittee, with representatives from all six S**G counties, adopted its charter and will spend the coming months building the RHNA methodology: the formula that translates the region's total housing need into an allocation for each jurisdiction. This body also serves as the final appeals board.

This cycle brings meaningful changes. Income categories expand from four to six (including a new emphasis on homelessness), and the methodology must now weigh new factors like climate impacts, student housing, cost burden, and overcrowding. For the first time, HCD must approve S**G's methodology before it can be adopted.

Staff also walked through the demographics shaping the regional determination: a flat-to-declining population projection alongside continued household growth, an aging region, and smaller average household sizes, all of which feed into how much housing Southern California needs to plan for.

We were glad to participate in public comment and will be following this process closely on behalf of Orange County. Next meeting: September 10.

07/06/2026

YIMBYs have been saying this since the beginning-- Teachers cannot afford to live near their schools or in the communities they serve-- but it's hasn't been a priority for educational advocates. Well, now it is! The California Newcomers Network, which advocates for immigrant students, is calling on teachers to organize in support of projects, density, permit streamlining, and other pro-housing policies.

"There also needs to be political support on the ground. When local opposition attacks new apartments, faster construction approvals or denser development near transit, education leaders should back the projects up with some version of, “These reforms are part of what it takes to staff schools, stabilize families and sustain public education.”

Thank you! CNN.

07/06/2026

06/19/2026

Proposition 13, passed in the 1970s, keeps property taxes artificially low. A property owner may pay as little as $900 per year; there is no pressure or incentive to make this site economically productive because it costs the owner so little. If the property were to be sold and redeveloped, the County would reassess it to reflect the value of those improvements, something closer to the market rate value and the taxes would increase and cities would see an increase in their revenue. (ICYMI, many OC cities are beyond broke; they don't generate enough revenue to balance their budgets.) This is one way in which new housing development, especially multifamily, is good for cities-- it forces a reassessment of the site. In addition, the cost to deliver services on a per housing unit basis is way less for multifamily than it is for single family. Infrastructure costs like water connections and maintaining street frontage costs more to serve a unit of SFH than it does a unit that is part of a multifamily development.

What can be done? Prior to 2011, cities got funding for "redevelopment " to address blight. If was controversial because the city would act using eminent domain to force the sale if a blighted property and redevelop it. Many cities used the funding to build affordable housing, which is a great use. Other cities tore down housing to build car dealerships and hotels, chasing sales taxes and TOT revenues. Many people do not want to see Redevelopment funding restored; however the Legislature could narrow the purpose and limit it to redevelopment into BMR subsidized affordable housing (and open space). Another option would be to split the tax roles into residential and commercial and reassess commercial properties. This would put pressure on property owners to make their sites economically productive by building something that generates revenue to pay the taxes. This was a ballot measure proposed in 2020 but it failed to pass. It's a good idea.

Addressing blight and tax reassessment are two reasons to support new housing in your community. 👍🏡

05/30/2026

In OC, it's Build More Housing or Bust! Dr. Christopher Thornberg of .economics speaking to the elected city leaders at the 2026 OCCOG Conference: We build or Don't, and there are consequences to both.

05/16/2026

San Diego Superior Court Judge Katherine Bacal ordered the city of Huntington Beach to adopt a compliant housing element by May 28th, 2026 and to pay penalties amounting to $160,000. The city will be fined an additional $50,000 per month beginning in June until they do adopt a compliant housing element. After losing a long-running court battle to plan for more housing, Huntington Beach could have faced fines of up to $50,000 a month, dating back to January 2025. So the $160K was a discounted price to pay for what Attorney General Rob Bonta called "obstinate rufusal" to their city's part to build more housing. Fines paid will go towards building affordable housing. Read more in the LAT Daily Pilot or the Governor's Press website.

05/09/2026

A project originally proposed back in the 1980s as 700+ homes has been whittled down to 181. The OC BOS really understood the assignment: housing denials have to be based on facts, not concerns or preferences or selfish desires to keep others out of your neighborhood. (The Fullerton City Council could take a lesson from the BOS on this!) The BOS denied the NIMBY neighbors appeal of the project approval. Thank you Supervisor Don Wagner for approving this project in your own District and telling the bold truth: The experts say the project isn't a risk, so therefore we are going to move it forward because Orange County and California need the homes!