Since 2017, the California legislature has passed nearly a hundred new housing laws. They have touched on virtually all aspects of housing, such as streamlining approvals, reforming single-family zoning, and expanding funding programs to address homelessness. Taken together, these laws have significantly shifted the landscape of housing policy in the state in an effort to alleviate California’s housing challenges. And while some of these laws have garnered significant attention, most are obscure to those who do not follow California housing policy closely. The breadth and scope of these laws can be overwhelming, and up to now there has been no centralized database tracking them.

That is why the Terner Center is excited to debut a new tool that catalogs every housing law passed in California from 2017 to 2022. The tool allows users to explore these laws, which can be searched by code section, category, or legislative year, with a link back to the legislative text. For example, the tool can be used to identify all laws pertaining to zoning that have passed since 2017, or all laws pertaining to a specific code section, such as the Housing Accountability Act (Section 65589.5) passed in any given year.

As California continues to adopt new housing legislation, we will update this tool. Moreover, we are continuing to track state legislation outside of California through our partnerships with organizations such as the Urban Institute and NYU’s Furman Center.