What’s Ahead for Homebuilding: Key California Housing Laws to Watch
California’s housing challenges continue to drive conversations about how projects are reviewed, approved, and ultimately built. This November, voters will weigh in on Proposition 45, a measure designed to reduce project delays through expedited review timelines. At the same time, California continues to refine policies aimed at protecting historic resources. Together, these efforts highlight the ongoing challenge of balancing housing production with community preservation.
Proposition 45 – The Building a More Affordable California Act – will be on the November ballot.
What does it do? Proposition 45 would establish expedited review timelines, often referred to as “shot clocks,” for housing and other designated essential building types. The goal is to reduce approval delays and provide greater certainty for projects moving through the entitlement process.
One of the most significant aspects of Proposition 45 is that it designates Housing as an Essential Building Type, alongside schools, health facilities, water infrastructure, transportation, clean energy, public safety facilities, and broadband internet. Data centers are notably excluded.
The key point of this measure is to create Shot Clocks to reduce the time for analysis, approval, and judicial action if challenged. The proposal would extend tools that have previously been applied to select large-scale projects (like SoFi Stadium and Apple Campus), making similar streamlined review timelines available to housing and other essential public-serving developments.
Rons Take: If expedited review processes can be applied to billionaire’s pet projects, why shouldn’t housing and other essential building types receive similar protections?
Proponents say that Proposition 45 will:
- Streamline reviews and eliminate costly delays
- Curb frivolous lawsuits that block essential projects
- Protect taxpayers by keeping public projects on time and on budget
- Lower the cost of housing, infrastructure and essential services
- Maintain community input and local control
- Protect California’s strong environmental, worker and tribal cultural resource protection standards
In a recent Orange County Business Council panel discussion I attended, Greg McWilliams of FivePoint Holdings shared examples from projects such as Newhall Ranch and Tejon Ranch that have faced years of review and approvals and rejections. His argument was simple: when most issues have been resolved, projects should be able to keep moving forward while the remaining items are addressed, rather than restarting portions of the process and adding years of delay.
Whether Proposition 45 ultimately passes will be up to California voters, but it represents another significant step in the state’s effort to address housing affordability and project delivery challenges. As housing policy continues to evolve, finding the right balance between production, preservation, and local priorities will remain a central conversation across California.
While I am not a Land Use Attorney, you can contact me if you have any questions.
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