By Jorge Casuso

April 23, 2025 -- A State Senate housing bill to make it easier and faster to build as many as four units on a single family lot failed to advance out of committee on a 4 to 3 vote Tuesday.

The Senate Housing Committee voted 4 to 3 to reject SB 677, a bill sponsored by Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) to streamline a housing law he sponsored allowing duplexes to be built on single-family lots.

The committee, however, passed Wiener’s bill allowing new residential buildings of up to seven stories near major transit stops. SB 79, which was approved 6 to 2, now heads to the Senate Local Government Committee.

“While I’m disappointed the Committee did not advance SB 677 -- an important bill to ensure our housing streamlining laws are as effective as they can be — the passage of SB 79 is a game changer," Wiener said in a statement Tuesday evening.

“Today’s votes show the challenges that continue to plague California’s efforts to address the housing shortage, even as we continue to make real progress," Wiener said.

"We heard the same opponents of these bills make the same anti-housing arguments they’ve used to oppose new homes for decades," he said adding that the Committee "took a bold vote to advance a proposal to allow more homes near transit -- an idea whose time has come."

Wiener's office said the senator would continue to work on SB 677 and bring the bill back next year.

The bill makes a number of technical changes to SB9, which allowed duplexes on single family lots that can be split to allow as many as four homes.

The failed bill made a number of technical changes to SB9, which
sought to "functionally end single family zoning" but "proved difficult to utilize effectively," Wiener has said.

SB 677 would have restricted the use of owner-cccupancy requirements, added reporting requirements for local governments and reduced Coastal Commission SB 9 permitting obstacles and delays, according to Wiener's office.

It also would have prevented Homeowners Associations (HOAs) and Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions (CC&Rs) from prohibiting or restricting SB 9 projects.

In addition, it made several changes "to address land use decisions designed to impede the law’s applicability, regarding setbacks, upzonings, height limits, lot coverage limitations, access requirements, and other objective design standards and permitting requirements."

“Californians are demanding bold, radical changes right now to address a generational affordability crisis," Wiener said Wednsday.

"Opponents of more homes, with all due respect to them, are not offering real solutions, beyond making vague appeals to hypothetical affordable housing -- all while ignoring actual opportunities to open more areas to new affordable homes."

Meanwhile, SB 79 would establish State zoning standards around train stations and major bus stops to allow multi-family homes of up to seven stories near major transit stops.

The bill sets lower height standards and streamlines permitting for homes built within half a mile of the stops and allows local transit agencies "to develop at the same or greater density on land they own," Wiener's office said.

"We should embrace the difficult changes we need to make to tackle the root causes of our affordability crisis," Wiener said in his statement.

"We should try something different than the broken status quo that has failed to produce affordability in California for the past half century," Wiener said.

“My door remains open to work with any and all stakeholders who wish to address our affordability crisis—the democratic process often makes bills better.”

The committee's votes come two weeks after the City Council postponed voting on whether to support the bills.