Last year, new law SB35 went into effect in California, requiring cities to build more housing or possibly lose temporary control of the permitting processes.

The state’s Regional Housing Needs Assessment quantifies housing needs across different California metros. Currently, few states are actually meeting the recommendation. With the California Department of Housing and Community Development’s release of the first full assessment of cities’ housing needs, it was revealed just how much work California has to do before there is sufficient housing across the state. 

It turns out that 97.6 percent of cities and counties in California have not satisfied housing needs to a sufficient degree. In fact, there are only 13 places in the entire state that do meet the expectations of SB 35. That exclusive list includes Napa County, Sonoma County, and  Santa Barbara County (counties at-large, not the cities) as well as Beverly Hills, Lemon Grove, and West Hollywood.

Most of the metros in California have yet to meet the requirement of “streamlining for proposed developments with at least 10 percent” affordable housing. The state defines affordable housing as residences that are priced for people making 80 percent of the area’s median home value. Bay area cities like Los Altos Hills, Mill Valley, Millbrae, Sonoma, South San Francisco, and Union City are among the 378 metros that are subject to this requirement. In Southern California, the list includes Hermosa Beach, Industry, Inglewood, Laguna Beach, Palm Springs, and San Dimas.

A smaller list of 148 cities has yet to meet the standard that fast-tracks developments offering at least 50 percent affordable homes. In the Bay Area, these cities include Los Altos, Los Gatos, Milpitas, Orinda, San Rafael, Walnut Creek, San Jose, and San Francisco. In Southern California, cities such as Los Angeles, Anaheim, San Diego, and Simi Valley all meet this criteria.

For a full list of affected metros, click here.