I’m in HCD’s Housing Accountability unit that’s responsible for the “finding out” element of this equation. It’s been a hoot.
Local governments are used to thinking this housing element update being a paper exercise because failure has never mattered. I found some sites in Glendale that the city claimed would be ‘appropriate’ to develop new low income housing… that were already developed with luxury apartments. Last cycle, this would have gotten an eyebrow raise. This cycle, it’s an anvil falling from the sky.
The state legislature is actively responding to the housing crisis. It won’t be enough to undo a hundred years of bad development priorities, but it’s a start.