More housing could be coming to California coast under new law signed by Newsom

Stephen Hobbs, The Sacramento Bee on Oct 8, 2025

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A fresh round of criticism last year that the California Coastal Commission was an impediment to home building prompted state Sen. John Laird to push back.

The Santa Cruz Democrat set out to introduce a bill that would show it is possible to build more affordable housing in the state’s coastal areas.

“People were making coastal protection and building affordable housing a binary choice,” Laird said. “I wanted to demonstrate that you could build affordable housing and do it within the concepts of the Coastal Act,” which outlines the commission’s power to regulate development.

He contacted advocates and the commission itself to brainstorm ideas.

The result was Senate Bill 484, which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law this week. It will require the commission to help identify areas in coastal communities to try and make it easier to build more affordable housing. The agency will then exempt projects in those zones from needing a coastal development permit, a generally required document for building near the Pacific Ocean.

“I've seen what happens when there wasn’t coastal protection,” Laird said. “At the same time, I represent some of the most expensive housing markets, and we need affordable housing.”

Impact may be limited, will take years

In the grand scheme of California’s home shortage, the measure’s effects could be modest.

The commission only has to identify areas to allow for the permit exemption in three communities. How consequential the new law is will rely heavily on which areas are ultimately chosen.

Even if it leads to significant changes, they might not fully be apparent for years.

The agency also has until July 2027 to identify specific areas, and the exemption only applies to housing developments that are completely dedicated to people with moderate or low incomes. The commission is required to provide a report to the Legislature about the number of projects that were completed, or under construction, as a result of the law, but that is not due until 2035.

Still, affordable housing proponents celebrated the bill signing.

“The California Housing Partnership sees this as a win-win-win for the state’s environment, economy and working families,” Matt Schwartz, the organization’s CEO, said in a statement.

So did the commission.

Sarah Christie, a legislative director for the agency, which has 12 voting members, said it “supported the bill because it’s good policy.”

The commission is a powerful state agency and a major target of frustration amid California’s high housing costs.

In recent years, legislators have tried to pass bills to make it easier to build more affordable housing near the Pacific Ocean and reduce the instances in which a coastal development permit is required, among other changes. Several of those proposals stalled or were amended substantially before they passed.

Christie argues that the commission actually wants to make it easier to build affordable housing along the coast and that criticism that suggests otherwise is unfair.

“We’re just so pleased that the governor signed the bill. We’re really looking forward to implementing it.”

Environmental advocates support the law

The new law is unlikely to quiet the commission’s critics, who have included President Donald Trump. But environmental advocates argue that it shows they are looking for ways to build more affordable housing and aren’t just a bunch of perennial obstructionists.

“It’s very, very important to me to see more affordable housing in the coastal zone,” said Susan Jordan, executive director of the California Coastal Protection Network.

Both housing and environmental groups, including Jordan’s, supported the bill. It faced no public opposition and passed the Legislature with almost all lawmakers voting in favor of it.

Laird, a longtime legislator and former California Natural Resources Agency secretary, said he believed the bill showed that coastal protections and affordable housing development can coexist but that there was a lot more work to do.

“I’m very excited about it being signed,” he said. “Yet, I don’t think it’s going to be the end of the discussion.”

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