Housing Law Guidance: Senate Bill 79 Advisories and Further Resources from HCD

June 24, 2026

Housing bills often come with interpretive challenges that can frustrate local governments. This article discusses resources from the Department of Housing and Community Development that can help guide implementation decisions, with a focus on SB 79 advisory memos and a primer for the bill’s provisions to facilitate transit-oriented development.

SB 79 Advisory Memos from HCD

SB 79 is a new state law that aims to facilitate high-density, transit-oriented development (TOD) near major transit stops in eight of California’s most populous counties. The bill generated many questions by local and regional agencies tasked with implementing it. On March 20, 2026, the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) issued an advisory memo clarifying key definitions in SB 79. The memo was issued in response to requests for clarification from several Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs), which SB 79 tasks with creating maps of eligible TOD stops and zones within their regions. Now MPOs and local agencies have further guidance on how transportation offerings within their territories interact with SB 79’s new rules regarding housing development.

The HCD memo provided definitions for some of the following key terms in SB 79:

Bus service;
Commuter rail, including high-frequency and very-high frequency commuter rail;
Rail transit, including light rail and heavy rail transit;
Passenger rail station; and
TOD Stops, including Tier 1 and Tier 2 Stops.

The memo also provides an Existing Rail Typologies table that categorizes and illustrates how the definitions apply to rail systems, like BART, the LA Metro, the Sacramento Regional Transit system, Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Light Rail, Caltrain, the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit, and other systems.

The memo is a promising first step to facilitating consistent implementation of the bill across the state. Public agencies should expect further guidance from HCD, including standards for how to incorporate SB 79’s provisions into the Housing Element site-inventory process, which are due to be released by July 1, 2026.

HCD Technical Assistance Letters Dashboard

Of course, questions regarding implementation of recent state housing laws extend beyond SB 79 and HCD’s technical assistance letters are another resource for local agencies. Public agencies may submit requests for technical assistance to HCD or review letters that HCD has issued to other jurisdictions via HCD’s Housing Accountability Unit Letters Dashboard. While HCD has long published the various letters it issues to public agencies, including technical advisory letters, notices of violation, and other enforcement letters, it recently developed a portal with new search functions. The letters posted in the portal provide insight into HCD’s interpretation of numerous housing laws that have been enacted in recent years and may soon also be a helpful resource to public agencies implementing SB 79.

SB 79 Primer

SB 79, which was signed into law last October by Governor Gavin Newsom, will go into effect on July 1, 2026 and make housing development projects allowed uses on residential, mixed-use, or commercial sites within one-half mile of TOD stops as long as projects meet applicable requirements in the statute. SB 79 identifies two types of TOD stops that are eligible for transit-oriented housing development projects. “Tier 1” TOD stops are served by heavy rail transit or high frequency commuter rail in an urban transit county, while “Tier 2” TOD stops are served by light rail transit, high-frequency commuter rail, or bus rapid transit. As described above, HCD’s newly issued memo clarifies many of the terms, including “commuter rail,” “rail transit,” and “pedestrian access point,” which determine where projects may be built, and categorizes the various existing rail typologies in the seven counties subject to SB 79. SB 79’s provisions will affect Alameda, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, and San Diego Counties.

TOD housing developments benefit from permissive height limits, density maximums, and floor area ratios, depending on the type of TOD stop, the development’s proximity to that TOD stop, and the respective city’s population. SB 79 prohibits local jurisdictions from setting height limits or maximum densities below the levels identified in the law, or from enforcing local development standards that would physically prevent a project from achieving the specified residential floor area ratios.

	Tier 1		Tier 2
	¼ mile	½ mile, pop. > 35,000	¼ mile	½ mile, pop. > 35,000
Height limit	≥ 75 feet	≥ 65 feet	≥ 65 feet	≥ 55 feet
Density maximum	≥ 120 du/acre	≥ 100 du/acre	≥ 100 du/acre	≥ 80 du/acre
Floor Area Ratio	≤ 3.5	≤ 3	≤ 3	≤ 2.5
Minimum density threshold for density bonus concessions	90 du/acre	75 du/acre	75 du/acre	60 du/acre

du = dwelling unit

TOD projects would also be eligible for a density bonus, incentives, waivers, and concessions under State Density Bonus Law (SDBL), provided they meet all other requirements in the law, including higher affordability requirements than those contained in SB 79. Additionally, projects that meet a specified minimum density (also included in the above table) would be eligible for additional incentives and concessions, including reductions in site development standards, depending on the project’s level of affordability.

SB 79 contains what the bill calls an “adjacency intensifier” for projects located immediately adjacent to TOD stops, meaning within 200 feet of any pedestrian access point to the stop. The adjacency intensifier increases a project’s allowable height limit by 20 feet, maximum density by 40 dwelling units per acre, and residential floor area ratio by 1, in addition to additional increases granted pursuant to SDBL. Jurisdictions and developers should note that projects taller than 85 feet are subject to SB 35’s labor requirements, including the obligation to pay construction workers prevailing wage.

To be eligible for SB 79, projects must contain at least 5 dwelling units, meet a minimum density of 30 dwelling units per acre (or the minimum density required under local zoning, if it is higher), and not exceed an average total area of floor space of 1,750 net habitable square feet. Additionally, projects must include a certain percentage of affordable units, percentages which mirror those found in the Housing Accountability Act, and cannot displace existing rent-regulated housing.

Specifically, projects over 10 units must set aside the following percentages of affordable housing, depending on the level of affordability:

7% total units dedicated to extremely low-income households
10% dedicated to very low-income households
13% dedicated to lower income households

Projects wishing to benefit from SDBL or SB 35’s streamlined review process must meet the higher affordability requirements in each of those laws.

To minimize the potential for demolition of rent-regulated housing and displacement of tenants, SB 79 prohibits TOD housing projects on sites containing more than two units where the project would either (1) require the demolition of rent-regulated housing that was occupied by a tenant within the past seven years, or (2) be constructed on a site previously used for such housing that was demolished within the preceding seven years. Local governments can also impose their own anti-displacement and demolition standards.

Local Control Options Within SB 79 Guidelines

As with numerous statewide housing bills enacted in the past decade, SB 79 constrains local authority over land use while prescribing some limited areas of local control. The following lists the actions that local governments may take with respect to SB 79 projects:

Enact and enforce standards that do not prevent a project from achieving SB 79’s development standards.
Require projects to proceed under the local development process, except for projects eligible for streamlined review under SB 35.
Impose local demolition and anti-displacement standards.
Enforce a local inclusionary zoning requirement.
Make local zoning ordinances consistent with SB 79, subject to HCD’s review.
Enact objective development standards, conditions, and policies that apply specifically to TOD projects.
Exempt certain sites within one-half mile of a TOD stop from SB 79’s provisions, if the local government (1) finds that there are no walking paths of less than one mile from that site to the TOD stop or (2) designates the site as an industrial employment hub.
Adopt a TOD alternative plan, by which the local government can reduce the zoned capacity of TOD sites as long as it maintains the same total net zoned capacity by increasing the zoned capacity of other sites within the jurisdiction.

SB 79 Applies to Some Regional and Statewide Entities

SB 79 includes a number of provisions that apply to other regional and statewide entities. For example, the bill enables transit agencies to adopt agency TOD zoning standards for district-owned property in a TOD zone and to allow the development of residential or mixed-use projects in those zones, subject to certain affordability, anti-displacement, and other requirements. Metropolitan Planning Organizations are tasked with creating maps of TOD stops and zones within their regions, which will be presumed valid for use by project applicants and local governments. By July 1, 2026 HCD must promulgate standards on how to incorporate SB 79’s provisions into the Housing Element site-inventory process.

SB 79 was enacted with a delayed implementation date, but implementing its provisions and preparing for its impacts is undoubtedly a daunting task for local governments and the other agencies involved. Nonetheless, local governments and other agencies are expected to comply with the law’s provisions: Beginning January 1, 2027, denial of an eligible TOD project will become a violation of the Housing Accountability Act and potentially subject local governments to penalties under its provisions.

For more information, please contact Nardos Girma.

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