San Francisco Chronicle: California lawmakers just voted to make it easier to add housing. Will Bay Area cities build?

In a major win for California housing development advocates, state lawmakers signed off Monday on a series of reforms that supporters say could clear the way to build hundreds of thousands of of new homes statewide by significantly easing permitting requirements.

If signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, the bills would quickly open up large swaths of commercial land for new housing construction, eliminate minimum parking requirements for new homes near transit and make it easier to build backyard in-law units. But like other major housing policy changes in recent years, the prospect of densifying communities where homeowners have long financially benefited from scarcity is also likely to fuel new local political and legal battles in the Bay Area and beyond.

Two of the bills passed by the legislature on Monday, AB 2011 and SB 6, would similarly allow for housing in commercial corridors currently set aside for offices, retail or parking.

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