By Jorge Casuso
October 15, 2025 -- California's liberal establishment remains divided over a controversial new housing law that allows large residential developments to be built near transit stops with no local input.
SB 79, opposed by 131 California cities and supported by five, including Santa Monica, was signed Thursday by Governor Gavin Newsom and hailed by supporters as the most significant housing bill in the State's history.
“In California we talk a lot about where we don’t want to build homes, but rarely about where we do -- until now," the bill's sponsor Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) said after the Governor's signing.
"SB 79 unwinds decades of overly restrictive land use policies that have driven housing costs to astronomical levels, forcing millions of people to move far away from jobs and transit, to face massive commutes, or to leave California entirely."
Azeen Khanmalek, executive director of Abundant Housing LA, said that "for too long, our biggest regions have banned the type of dense housing that we desperately need exactly where we need it most: near transit.
“With SB 79, we can build more homes, bring down the cost of housing, and have cleaner air and safer streets by providing more people better access to transit."
A party sponsored by Abundant Housing LA for SB 79 -- which sailed through the legislature with major amendments -- was held Sunday in West Hollywood to celebrate "the single biggest housing bill ever passed in CA," according to an invitation to the event.
Santa Monica Councilmembers Jesse Zwick, the new director of Housing Action Coalition, which co-sponsored the party, and Natalya Zernitskaya, were among the Councilmembers recognized for their support.
The bill, however, was opposed by the City of Los Angeles, California's largest city with nearly 4 million residents, and criticized by Mayor Karen Bass after it was signed into law.
“The rigid timelines and limited flexibility for alternative plans set forth in SB 79 create unnecessary burdens for Los Angeles communities,” Bass told The Wall Street Journal.
“While I support the legislation’s intent to accelerate housing development statewide, the bill as written diminishes neighborhood input on planning and zoning.”
In August, the LA City Council voted 8 to 5 to oppose the bill, which one prevailing Councilmember called "a one-size-fits-all mandate" from the State.
“Sacramento is hijacking local planning, stripping away neighborhood voices, ignoring safety and infrastructure, and handing the keys to corporate developers,” said Councilmember Traci Park, whose district includes the Pacific Palisades
Assemblymember Rick Zbur (D-West Hollywood/Santa Monica), who led the opposition to SB 79 despite the backing of the City Councils in both cities, argued the bill would initially impact lower-priced single-family neighborhoods.
“The neighborhoods most affected by this are not necessarily the ultra-wealthy,” said Zbur, a member of the California Legislative Progressive Caucus. “Instead, lower-priced areas will be the first to feel the impacts because land costs are lower."
In May, Santa Monica became only the second city (after West Hollywood) to support SB 79 when the Council's pro-housing super-majority voted 6 to 1 to endorse the measure.
Mayor Lana Negrete, who cast the lone opposing vote, noted that the vast majority of new units built under the bill would be market rate, with only 10 to 20 percent affordable.
"As we overdevelop communities like Santa Monica, we continue to displace the very people that these bills are meant to support," Negrete said.
The concern was expressed by the other Councilmembers who approved changing the draft of the letter to include backing measures that would make it harder to displace existing tenants and boost affordable housing.
The final bill signed by Newsom requires developments to dedicate 30 percent of the units to extremely low income households (7 percent), low income households (10 percent) and lower income households (13 percent). Developments with 10 or fewer units are exempt.
The bill allows buildings of up to 8 stories adjacent to stops on light-rail lines and at stops on major bus-rapid transit lines, up to 6 stories within ¼ mile of those stops and 5 stories between ¼ and ½ mile.
In Santa Monica, SB 79 would apply to the three Expo light rail stations at Bergamot Station, Santa Monica College (SMC) and Downtown, as well as stops for the 720 Metro Rapid Bus on Wilshire Boulevard and the Big Blue Bus Route 3 on Lincoln Boulevard, according to route info posted online.
It also allows local transit agencies to develop on land they own without requiring the local government "to approve any height limit in excess of the standard for development adjacent to the transit-oriented development stop."
In August, when the California Democratic Party (CADEM) voted to endorse SB 79, it marked a "sea change" after Wiener's broader transit-oriented development (TOD) bill in 2020 met stiff opposition.
“Even just 5 years ago, CADEM embracing a position like this was unthinkable," Jordan Grimes, a housing advocate, said in the Davis Vanguard.
"The party was too dominated by anti-housing zealots and suburban homeowners," Grimes said. "Today, the vote to support SB79 was 111 to 62. It’s nothing short of a sea change.”