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Everything you need to know about California housing development and our zoning reports.

SB 684 (2023) created the Starter Home Revitalization Act (Gov. Code §§ 65852.28, 65913.4.5 and 66499.41), in effect July 1, 2024. It requires ministerial approval — no discretionary review or public hearing — of a subdivision into up to 10 parcels for a project of up to 10 homes on a lot zoned to allow multifamily housing, up to 5 acres. The city must approve or deny a complete map application within 60 days, or it is deemed approved. SB 1123 (2024) amended the same law to add vacant single-family lots.
SB 684
SB 1123

Any zone that allows multifamily housing. In the City of Los Angeles, City Planning lists R2, RD, RW2, R3, RAS3, R4, RAS4, R5 and all C zones. Single-family zones (in LA: A, RA, RE, RS, R1, RU, RZ and RW1) qualify only through SB 1123, and only if the lot is vacant and no larger than 1.5 acres. Zoning alone doesn't make a lot eligible: it must also be substantially surrounded by urban uses and clear the law's exclusions, such as rent-controlled or recently tenant-occupied housing and very high fire hazard zones (LA also excludes high fire hazard zones).
SB 684
SB 1123

Ministerial approval means the city checks the project against objective standards and must approve it if it complies — no discretionary review, no public hearing and no CEQA review. Under SB 684 and SB 1123 the city must decide a complete map application within 60 days or it is deemed approved, and SB 9 has had the same 60-day rule since 2025. In the City of LA's Coastal Zone, a coastal development permit with a public hearing is still required.
SB 684
SB 1123
SB 9

SB 1123 (2024) amended SB 684's Starter Home Revitalization Act. Since July 1, 2025, the same ministerial process — up to 10 parcels and 10 homes, no public hearing — also covers vacant lots zoned for single-family homes, up to 1.5 acres. SB 684 and SB 1123 are one law with two kinds of eligible lots, not two separate programs.
SB 1123
SB 684

A vacant lot zoned for single-family homes, no larger than 1.5 acres, that is substantially surrounded by qualified urban uses in an urbanized city or large urban county. 'Vacant' means no permanent structure unless it is abandoned and uninhabitable; housing occupied by tenants in the prior five years never counts as vacant. There is no jobs, schools or transit test. Local minimum lot sizes don't apply; each new parcel must be at least 1,200 sq ft. Since Oct. 1, 2026, new applications in ZIP codes 91001 and 91003 (Altadena) are barred (SB 1090), and SB 1116 changes several rules for applications received on or after Jan. 1, 2027.
SB 1123
SB 1090
SB 1116

They are one law. SB 684 (2023) created the Starter Home Revitalization Act for lots zoned for multifamily housing, up to 5 acres. SB 1123 (2024) amended the same code sections to add vacant single-family-zoned lots, up to 1.5 acres, and changed some rules for both — for example, ADUs and JADUs no longer count toward the 10-home cap. A lot qualifies on the multifamily path, the vacant single-family path, or neither. A lot created by an SB 9 lot split can't use either.
SB 1123
SB 684

SB 79 (2025) is California's transit-oriented upzoning law (Gov. Code § 65912.155 et seq.), signed October 10, 2025 and in effect July 1, 2026. On eligible parcels near qualifying rail and bus rapid transit stops, it requires cities to allow multifamily housing at state-set minimum heights and densities — 80 to 120 units per acre depending on tier and distance — overriding local zoning for those projects. The City of Los Angeles has paused SB 79 citywide through a phased-implementation ordinance (Gov. Code § 65912.161(b)); the Low-Rise Incentive Area is the interim path there.
SB 79

AB 2097 (Gov. Code § 65863.2) separately bars public agencies from imposing minimum parking requirements on most projects within a half mile of a major transit stop, with limited exceptions. That transit definition is broader than SB 79's tiers, so the two boundaries don't always match. In the City of LA, SB 79 itself is paused; the Low-Rise Incentive Area is the interim path.
SB 79
AB 2097

SB 1211 (2024, in effect Jan. 1, 2025) lets the owner of a lot with an existing multifamily building — two or more attached homes, such as a duplex or apartment building — add up to 8 detached ADUs, but never more than the number of existing units (Gov. Code § 66323(a)(4)). Conversion ADUs inside non-livable space of the building (at least one, up to 25% of existing units) can be added on top. Approval is ministerial, and the city can't impose parking or other standards beyond the height limits and 4-foot side and rear setbacks the statute allows. A lot with only a proposed multifamily building gets up to 2 detached ADUs.
SB 1211

AB 1287 (2023) amended California's State Density Bonus Law (Gov. Code § 65915(v)), effective January 1, 2024. A project that already earns the maximum base density bonus can earn an additional bonus by dedicating more units to very-low-income or moderate-income households, so the combined bonus can approach 100%. It applies only when no more than 50% of the project's units are income-restricted. It is not a streamlining or approval-process law.
AB 1287

AB 2011, the Affordable Housing and High Road Jobs Act of 2022 (Gov. Code § 65912.100 et seq.), makes housing a use by right — ministerial, with no CEQA review — on sites in zones where office, retail or parking is a principally permitted use. It has two paths: 100% affordable to lower-income households, or mixed-income on a commercial corridor (or campus development zone) with 15% lower-income rentals (or 8% very-low plus 5% extremely-low) or, for sale, 30% moderate-income or 15% lower-income. Both require prevailing wages. It took effect July 1, 2023 and is repealed January 1, 2033 unless extended.
AB 2011
AB 2243

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