HAVING DEFEATED THE SEGREGATION CANDIDATE:

SB9 allows homeowners to build duplexes and fourplexes on most residential lots that would have previously been zoned for just one home. SB10 would make it much easier for cities to rezone land for small multi-family projects near public transit and jobs. Together, they would allow for denser housing in a state where more than two-thirds of the land is zoned for single-family homes, and where millions of additional homes are needed to meet demand, according to recent estimates.

"These bills, over time, will create more housing," says Scott Wiener, the California senator who advanced SB10 and has been a champion for upzoning in the state. "There won't be an immediate shift. Zoning reform is about planting seeds for the future."

Although housing advocates are divided over how directly SB9 and 10 will spur development that's truly affordable, there's widespread agreement among both factions that a Newsom loss could have stalled progress on alleviating the state's housing crisis. 

When the Democratic governor took office in 2019, he set out a goal of building 3.5 million homes by 2025. Two years and a pandemic later, the state has more than 150,000 unhoused residents, and has made little progress towards that high production goal. But progress has come in other arenas: After repurposing vacant hotel rooms during the pandemic into housing for the homeless, Newsom recently announced plans to invest $12 billion of California's budget surplus into expanding that program, while investing in permanent homeless housing, homelessness prevention and rental support programs. Another $10.3 billion will go into building affordable housing statewide. 

Rob Wiener, the executive director of the California Coalition for Rural Housing, said before the vote that a Newsom loss would have been a death knell for "any kind of affordable housing strategy of substance and any transformational housing policy changes for the next year." Although Wiener questions the effectiveness of SB9 and 10, he said none of the almost 50 candidates had a housing policy that "really makes any sense and that will make any demonstrable difference."

Two of Newsom's highest-profile challengers from the right, radio show host Larry Elder and former San Diego mayor Kevin Faulconer, promised to address homelessness by clearing outdoor homeless encampments and building more homeless shelters. But they had less to say about creating long-term housing opportunities for the unhoused. Elder and Faulconer also opposed reform to single-family zoning on the campaign trail, pledging to keep multi-family developments out of low-density neighborhoods. 

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