\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPress Releases
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAbundance\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
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Nine years of policy innovation, 41 new pro-housing laws, and a winning playbook for national housing abundance<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were told it was impossible to change the rules that banned new homes.\u00a0We did it anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n
SACRAMENTO \u2013 Today, California YIMBY was recognized as a \u201cWorld Changing Ideas\u201d winner by Fast Company for its innovative and successful efforts to reform land use policy at the state-level, thereby allowing more homes to be built in California cities. Since the organization\u2019s founding in 2017, California YIMBY has helped shape and pass 41 pro-housing laws in the Golden State \u2013 and helped give birth to a national, pro-housing movement that is replicating its approach and success across the United States.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cCalifornia YIMBY was founded on a simple premise: That the shortage of homes in our cities resulted from bad local policies, and we could fix those policies at the state level,\u201d said Brian Hanlon, CEO of California YIMBY. \u201cWhen I started the organization, experienced advocates warned me that it was impossible to defeat incumbent interests and override local rules that thwarted homebuilding at the state level. We\u2019ve proved the naysayers wrong by redefining the scale of policy solutions needed to end the housing crisis and expanding the horizon of political possibilities for major reform.\u201d<\/p>\n
The World Changing Ideas award from Fast Company recognizes the cumulative impact of California YIMBY\u2019s policy innovation, grassroots organizing, coalition-building, and legislative advocacy. Among the organization\u2019s many state housing policy successes: making accessory dwelling units easier to build; eliminating costly and harmful parking mandates; opening cities to infill housing development; streamlining approvals for new homes; and expanding opportunities for home ownership.<\/p>\n
In 2025, that work produced two of the most significant housing reforms in California history. AB 609<\/a> (signed into law as AB 130) updated the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to formally recognize infill housing as an environmental benefit. And SB 79<\/a> legalized more homes near major public transit stops, connecting housing growth to the state\u2019s investments in mobility and climate progress.<\/p>\n The impact extends beyond California. Through its sister organization, the Metropolitan Abundance Project (MAP)<\/a>, California YIMBY works with partners nationwide to draft model legislation to help more states create abundant housing, high-quality transportation and\u00a0 infrastructure, and access to opportunity. While MAP\u2019s policy development is informed by best practices from across the world, MAP builds on California YIMBY\u2019s approach to organize broad coalitions, focus on state-level laws, and replace project-by-project fights with durable, structural reforms.\u00a0<\/p>\n Fast Company\u2019s World Changing Ideas Awards recognize the people and organizations developing creative, scalable responses to urgent global challenges. More than 1,500 applications were evaluated for their impact, design, scalability, and ingenuity. The 2026 program recognizes 191 honorees working across climate, technology, healthcare, urban design, and other fields.<\/p>\n To learn more, read Fast Company\u2019s World Changing Ideas<\/a> article about California YIMBY and explore California YIMBY\u2019s legislative victories<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Press Releases Abundance Share Nine years of policy innovation, 41 new pro-housing laws, and a winning playbook for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":465910,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8],"class_list":["post-465909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=465909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465909\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/465910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=465909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=465909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=465909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}