Cities face tighter rules on properties they can zone for new housing, an effort to prevent local governments from planning for growth in areas without water and sewer access, where building would never occur. Local governments behind on their housing goals were also required to relax their requirements for developers to build some projects, such as limiting the number of mandatory public meetings before their approval. And, given California’s slow population increases, the state must now also take into account home overcrowding and the number of residents who are burdened by high housing costs when determining how much new building is needed.

Source: Los Angeles Times June 18, 2019 16:59 UTC