California density bonus approvals

California’s density bonus law has helped approve more than 140,000 homes since 2020, including more than 69,000 deed-restricted affordable units. (circulatesd.org) The new report, published April 10 by Circulate Planning and Policy, says the law accounted for 47 percent of all homes approved in California multifamily projects in 2024. It says the same law covered 78 percent of homes approved in 100 percent affordable projects that year. (circulatesd.org) California’s density bonus law works like a trade: a builder reserves some apartments for lower-income tenants, and the project can exceed local zoning limits. State guidance says qualifying projects can also get concessions, waivers of development standards, and lower parking requirements. (sustain.scag.ca.gov) The law has existed since 1979, but the report points to two recent changes as the turning point. Assembly Bill 2345, signed in 2020, allowed projects with affordable units to grow 50 percent larger than base zoning, and Assembly Bill 1287, signed in 2023, added a second stackable 50 percent bonus for projects with deeper affordability. (circulatesd.org) (legiscan.com) Those changes made the density bonus law more heavily used than other state housing streamlining tools tracked by the California Department of Housing and Community Development. The report says bonus-law approvals in 2024 were 10 times the total produced by every other tracked streamlining law combined. (circulatesd.org) The report relies on Annual Progress Report data that California cities and counties must file with the Department of Housing and Community Development by April 1 each year. The state says those reports are used to track local progress toward Regional Housing Needs Allocation targets, with issued building permits as the main benchmark. (hcd.ca.gov) California housing costs remain far above the rest of the country while the state keeps pressing local governments to permit more homes. The Legislative Analyst’s Office said in January that California home prices still far exceed the national market, and the housing department posted a new state density bonus template memo on March 24. (lao.ca.gov) (hcd.ca.gov) The density bonus law does not erase local fights over height, parking, or neighborhood scale, but it gives builders a statewide path around some of those limits if they include affordable units. For now, the state’s own reporting system shows that path is producing approvals at a scale few other California housing laws have matched. (sustain.scag.ca.gov) (circulatesd.org)