Would California’s big new housing bill affect your LA neighborhood? Use this map to find out

Despite opposition from Los Angeles politicians, this year’s highest-profile California housing bill has cleared the state Legislature and is now waiting for Gov. Gavin Newsom’s final approval.

If Newsom signs it into law, Senate Bill 79 would allow dense apartment buildings in neighborhoods that lie within a half-mile of major transit stops — even if those neighborhoods are currently zoned only for single-family homes.

But anyone trying to pinpoint SB 79’s potential impact has had to wade through a lot of misinformation. Despite what a certain former reality TV star has been saying in his viral TikTok videos, SB 79 would not bring skyscrapers to the Pacific Palisades.

We’re now starting to get more clarity on how SB 79 could apply locally. The L.A. City Planning Department has published new maps showing where developers could potentially build these projects, based on the location of the city’s transit stops.

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Linking housing and transit lines

Many homeowners are firmly against state lawmakers overriding local government restrictions to allow tall apartment buildings next to single-family homes. But advocates for increased development said these maps show SB 79 has the potential to bring new apartments to areas of L.A. where they’re needed most.

“We have a drastic under-supply of housing,” said Scott Epstein, policy director of the group Abundant Housing L.A. The region is investing in new Metro stops, he said, but the low-density and high-cost housing surrounding those stops severely caps the number of potential riders.

“Most people cannot afford to live within a quarter or half-mile of those transit stations. So [SB 79] makes a lot of sense,” Epstein said.

How to check SB 79’s impact on your block

If you’re curious to see how SB 79 could affect your neighborhood, go to this City Planning link and scroll down to the department’s interactive map near the bottom of the page. Click on the search icon within the map to input your address. You’ll see if your block falls into the quarter-mile or half-mile bubbles surrounding train and rapid bus lines, making the area eligible for denser housing.

One caveat to keep in mind: These are not the official, final maps the city will use to determine an area’s SB 79 eligibility. These are only preliminary drafts.

The department’s website says the maps are “intended for exploratory purposes only, based on initial analysis of the language contained in Senate Bill 79, should it become law.”

Final maps would eventually have to be produced by the Southern California Association of Governments, as required by SB 79.

Where SB 79 would place denser housing 

The bill allows housing developments of varying sizes depending on how close they would be to different kinds of transit stops.

On streets directly next to subway stops, projects could be up to nine stories tall. In areas farther from light rail stops, the limit would be five stories. The changes could be dramatic in parts of a city where apartment development is banned on 72% of its residential land.

For example, the neighborhood surrounding the Westwood/Rancho Park stop on the Metro E line is heavily zoned for single-family homes, some selling for $1.6 million or more.

Cynthia Chvatal-Keane, president of the Hancock Park Homeowners Association, said the L.A. City Council recently chose to leave single-family neighborhoods untouched in its updated housing plan.

“It’s those maps that create a fair plan to create density where it’s needed,” Chvatal-Keane said in an email to LAist. “The new maps created by the city as directed by the state … are a huge overreach.”

LA mayor asks Newsom to veto SB 79

For similar reasons, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass has asked Newsom to veto SB 79. In a letter to the governor, she wrote that the city must create more housing.

“However, we must do so in a way that does not erode local control, diminish community input on planning and zoning, and disproportionately impact low-resource neighborhoods,” Bass wrote.

Last month, the L.A. City Council moved to formally oppose SB 79. But the 8-5 vote was close, contrasting with near unanimous opposition to state housing density bills in years past.