brianjaffe.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

This is a pretty balanced overview of AB 609, a bill that would make it easier to build large housing projects within already urbanized areas.

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

The typical starter home (the average price in the bottom 1/3 of all homes) in 59 of 101 Bay Area cities now costs more than $1 million. For generations, the Bay Area has been a land of economic opportunity, but only if people can afford to live here. www.sfchronicle.com/personal-fin...

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

This is big. Even in its pared down form, SB 79 represents the kind of big reform needed to actually make a dent in our housing deficit. It is time for big solutions to big problems.

submitted 5 days ago • 1 comment

The future of CA politics is pro-housing.

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

We’re at that point in the CA legislative calendar when promising housing bills either get killed in a random committee or amended into irrelevance. It happens every year. And we wonder why we can’t solve the housing crisis.

submitted 11 days ago • 1 comment

If you look closely, SB-79 (Sen. Wiener's transit-oriented upzoning bill) is already shrinking in scope. In its latest change, the highest tier of upzoning now only applies to "Urban Transit Counties" - those with 15 or more rail transit stations. Will it be able to pass AND keep any broad upzoning?

submitted 12 days ago • 1 comment

“Key program is behind schedule” is a bad cliche for California government. We have to change the political culture of California so that promises actually mean something. calmatters.org/health/menta...

submitted 17 days ago • 0 comments

Truly crazy story… but also inspiring to have scientists looking for novel solutions to an age old danger.

submitted 25 days ago • 1 comment

Some activists say SB 79 would hurt affordable housing and cause displacement… ➡️ “The bulk of studies that have looked into the question have found that new market-rate housing reduces neighborhood rents and tends to ease displacement pressures.” ✅ Great fact check @CalMatters.org!!

submitted 27 days ago • 1 comment

SB 79 is exactly the kind of big housing bill California needs. Past housing bills have been lots of bluster & very little impact. If SB 79 passes without exempting most of the state (as was done with SB 9, SB 684, etc. in years past) it will actually make a huge difference for housing in CA.

submitted 28 days ago • 0 comments

Public data is very important (mostly for researchers to determine what is and isn’t working). In a moment when the federal government is trying to hide or destroy public data, we should applaud state governments going the other way. calmatters.org/commentary/2...

submitted 32 days ago • 0 comments

More of this! 🔥

submitted 34 days ago • 2 comments

Transit-oriented development (TOD; dense housing near transit stops) would be a huge win for climate, massively reducing greenhouse emissions from commuters. So why are environmental groups either neutral or opposing SB 79, which would be the biggest TOD reform in the history of California?

submitted 34 days ago • 3 comments

In a world where housing is built with unicorns & fairy dust, it can be 100% affordable, w/ infinite parking, right next to transit, not block anyone’s view, and for that matter not hurt anyone’s feelings 🙄 But in the real world, projects have to pencil out to be built and compromises must be made.

submitted 35 days ago • 1 comment

The first step of many, but still a very significant win. SB 79 would actually bring significant new housing to California, and precisely in the locations where it is needed most.

submitted 35 days ago • 0 comments

Inspiring to watch Sen. Wiener in action making the righteous case for housing to his Senate colleagues. We need more bold housing leadership just like his in Sacramento.

submitted 36 days ago • 0 comments

In the room where Sen. Wahab and allies are trying to kill SB 79, a transit oriented upzoning bill that would allow tens of thousands of new homes where they’re needed most in California. Vote coming soon…

submitted 36 days ago • 0 comments

“It’s time to end this practice of banning new homes in areas where we are making massive public transit investments. Proposed state legislation SB 79 from Sen. Scott Wiener would do just that.” www.dailynews.com/2025/04/21/s...

submitted 37 days ago • 5 comments

Tomorrow the CA Senate housing committee will show us if California democrats can overcome NIMBYism and advance pro-housing bills past an obstructive chairwoman. Genuinely don’t know how it’ll play out, but I’m going in person to support housing with @yimbyaction.bsky.social

submitted 36 days ago • 1 comment

6-year-old at Easter dinner: How did Jesus come back to life? Me: <long overly complicated answer> 6-year-old (immediately after I finished): Why does the ham glaze become so hard when it cools?

submitted 37 days ago • 1 comment

End the excuses. Legalize housing.

submitted 39 days ago • 0 comments

CEQA (the California Environmental Quality Act) - passed in 1970 - is no longer about protecting the environment. Because of an unintended legal interpretation after the law passed, CEQA gives any person who can hire a lawyer the right to endlessly delay anything that requires a permit to build.

submitted 42 days ago • 2 comments

Animal instinct never ceases to amaze.

submitted 42 days ago • 1 comment

“The average apartment in Texas costs roughly $150,000 to produce; in California, building the same apartment costs around $430,000, or 2.8 times more.” We have to bring down building costs. There are bills in the CA Legislature right now that will! Call your reps! calmatters.org/commentary/2...

submitted 43 days ago • 1 comment

Once again, @alfredtwu.com puts together the best CA housing bill tracker out there! Take a look, and call your legislators to ask them to support the bills you want to see become laws. alfredtwu.medium.com/2025-califor...

submitted 44 days ago • 0 comments

I have long said I consider myself an environmentalist and a YIMBY, and so it has been extremely frustrating to see environmental orgs I would otherwise respect and support oppose housing over the years. I truly hope the environmental movement can see the light on housing.

submitted 47 days ago • 0 comments

Flagrant disregard for lawful orders is an alarming symptom of a degradation of democracy. We cannot normalize or accept this. calmatters.org/environment/...

submitted 47 days ago • 1 comment

First investors lose their money. They will not be happy, but will largely be ok. Next workers lose their jobs. They will not have it so easy, and that is the real danger in all this.

submitted 51 days ago • 0 comments

It took two generations to create the housing crisis in CA. It’ll take years of concerted effort (and rapid building of new homes) to fix it.

submitted 53 days ago • 0 comments

Tariffs are taxes, and they're going to make everything more expensive. In my industry, and a space I care deeply about creating affordability, the cost of new residential construction will without a doubt go up as lumber prices go up. (Much of the lumber used in new homes comes from Canada.)

submitted 55 days ago • 2 comments