Housing

The 21st Century Alliance is fighting for a better future in California where we solve problems and get results. We help elect common sense candidates, hold legislators accountable, pass smart bills, and stop bad policy that caters to special interests.

Housing: The Foundation of a Thriving California

Housing impacts everything—family stability, health, education, economic opportunity, and even our environment. Yet for over 40 years, California’s housing crisis has held our state back, driven by political gridlock and special interests that prioritize the status quo over solutions.

Today, we face a staggering shortage of nearly 4 million homes—about 30% of the state’s entire housing stock. To simply keep pace with demand, California needs to build 180,000 homes annually, a target we haven’t met since 2005. The consequences are clear: skyrocketing rents, increasing homelessness, and families forced to leave the communities they love.

This crisis didn’t happen overnight—it is the result of restrictive zoning laws, outdated permitting processes, and a political system that has made it too easy to block new housing and too difficult to build it. Meanwhile, entrenched special interests benefit from scarcity, keeping housing costs high while working-class families, young people, and seniors bear the burden.

It doesn’t have to be this way. California has the resources, innovation, and talent to solve this crisis—but we need bold action:

Streamlining the approval process so housing gets built faster and more affordably.
Expanding housing choices by allowing a mix of affordable, middle-income, and market-rate homes in all communities.
Holding cities accountable for meeting their housing obligations instead of letting them block new development.
Investing in infrastructure and public transit to support vibrant, well-connected communities.
Prioritizing housing stability through tenant protections and affordable homeownership opportunities.

The housing crisis is a choice—and we can choose differently. By working together and rejecting failed policies of the past, we can build a California where everyone has a place to call home. Together, we can:

CUT RED TAPE

Unclog the Pipeline and Make It Cheaper and Faster to Build

Right now, it takes an average of 2–5 years to permit a single housing development in many California cities — and that’s before a shovel ever hits the ground. Every delay adds to the cost, and every dollar in delay gets passed onto renters and buyers.

We must:

Mandate predictable permitting timelines and “shot clocks” for local governments to approve housing applications.
Eliminate unnecessary design reviews and redundant hearings that allow housing opponents to delay or kill projects.
Create state-level appeals when cities ignore their own housing plans or try to block growth entirely.
Deploy a statewide digital permitting system to streamline and standardize approvals across jurisdictions.

The goal: speed up housing approvals without compromising on safety, sustainability, or community engagement.

Let’s stop making it easier to say “no” to housing than to say “yes” to the future of our state

INCENTIVIZE AFFORDABLE HOUSING

Make the Right Kind of Housing the Easiest to Build. The market alone will not solve our housing shortage — especially for low-income families, essential workers, students, and seniors. We need public policy that rewards developers and cities that prioritize affordable, inclusive housing.

Our priorities:

Fast-track 100% affordable housing developments with guaranteed by-right approval.
Tie state transportation and infrastructure dollars to local progress on affordable housing targets.
Offer bonus density and tax incentives for developments that include deeply affordable units.
Fund land trusts, community housing nonprofits, and public-private partnerships to ensure long-term affordability.

Affordable housing should be the easiest, fastest, and most rewarding type of housing to build in California.

REFORM CEQA — PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT, NOT SPECIAL INTERESTS

Stop the Misuse of a Good Law to Block Good Projects. The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) was written to protect open space, clean water, and clean air. But today, CEQA is too often exploited by special interests — from NIMBY neighbors to corporate competitors — to block housing, delay transit, and derail climate-smart urban development.

We support:

Exempting affordable housing and infill projects from full CEQA review when they meet clear environmental and zoning standards.
Creating legal standing rules that prevent abuse by parties with no legitimate environmental concern.
Capping lawsuit timelines and frivolous appeals that drive up costs and delay urgently needed housing.

CEQA should be a shield for our environment — not a sword used to stop the future.

We don’t have to choose between protecting the planet and building housing. We can — and must — do both.

MODERNIZE ZONING TO BUILD WHERE IT MAKES SENSE

Use Land Smarter, Build Near Jobs and Transit, and Reclaim Wasted Space

Too much of California is locked into 20th-century zoning codes that treat single-family homes and empty strip malls as sacred — even as homelessness rises and housing costs explode.

We propose:

Re-zoning underutilized commercial and industrial land for mixed-use and multi-family housing — especially in areas with declining retail demand.
Legalizing “missing middle” housing like duplexes, fourplexes, and courtyard apartments in neighborhoods near transit and job centers.
Requiring cities to allow higher density near rail, bus, and BART stations, so more people can live car-free or car-light lives.
Creating “Opportunity Housing Zones” with pre-approved design templates and accelerated approvals.

We can’t solve a 21st-century housing crisis with 1970s zoning rules. It’s time to build smarter, denser, and greener.

TREAT HOMELESSNESS AS A HOUSING CRISIS — BECAUSE IT IS

Invest in Housing First, Supportive Services, and Prevention

California’s homelessness crisis is a moral failing and a policy failure — but it is solvable. The vast majority of people experiencing homelessness in California want housing and can thrive with the right support.

We must:

Rapidly expand permanent supportive housing for people with mental health or addiction challenges.
Invest in safe interim housing options that serve as true stepping stones — not dead ends.
Strengthen rental assistance, legal aid, and eviction diversion programs to prevent homelessness before it starts.
Reform the shelter and housing bureaucracy to move people into permanent homes faster, with fewer silos and less red tape.

No one in California should live — or die — on the streets. Housing is a human right.

Our Vision: A California Where Everyone Has a Place to Call Home

The status quo is not working. Every year we delay, the crisis deepens. Families are being forced out. Workers can't afford to live near their jobs. Young people are leaving the state. And our most vulnerable neighbors are left without hope.

At the 21st Century Alliance, we’re building a movement to end the housing crisis with solutions that are bold, actionable, and rooted in justice.

This is a fight for our future — for affordability, dignity, and the California Dream itself.