To Ease Housing Crisis, California Lawmakers Vote to Open Suburbs to Development

The assembly passed a bill that allows two-unit buildings on lots that for generations have been reserved for single-family homes.

California needs more housing. More condominiums, more townhouses near mass transit, more suburban apartment buildings. There is no other solution to the state’s desperate homeless problem and a deepening housing affordability crisis, according to a broad swath of economists and housing experts. Yet for years the Legislature has struggled to follow their prescription to increase urban density, often because lawmakers fear the ire of suburban voters whose preferences for single-family home living have been regarded as politically sacrosanct. On Thursday the state’s Legislature took a big step toward rewriting that bargain, advancing a bill that would allow two-unit buildings on lots that for generations have been reserved exclusively for single-family homes. The move is one of several piecemeal housing measures — big enough to make a difference, not so sweeping that they fail to advance — that have endured the legislative gauntlet after years of high-profile failures.