CP&DR News Briefs March 24, 2026: Tribal Stewardship; S.D. Liberty Station; Affordable Housing; and More

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State Aims to Place 7.5 Million Acres under Tribal Stewardship

California intends to place at least 7.5 million acres of land and coastal waters, about 7% of the state, under Indigenous tribal stewardship, reflecting land that was originally promised to tribes in 1850 but never delivered after Congress secretly rejected treaties. The Natural Resources Agency created this policy aimed to repair historical harms by expanding tribal access to ancestral lands and restoring cultural and environmental practices that harmed the tribes as well as the ecosystems. It establishes three types of agreements: access agreements for cultural use, collaborative agreements for shared land management, and land return agreements that transfer ownership back to tribes. These frameworks would allow tribes to revive traditions like cultural burning, which can help reduce wildfire risk and improve ecosystems. Currently, about 1.7 million acres are already under tribal stewardship through a mix of reservations, state partnerships, and land return programs. 

San Diego Moves to Take Control of Liberty Station

The city of San Diego has taken key steps in its conflict with a property management company over control of Liberty Station, a 330-acre mixed-use property near a planned sports arena and NAVWAR project. These agreements shift decision-making power to 13 agencies including school districts, community college districts and health districts that have financial interests in Liberty Station and which must approve the payouts in exchange for giving up their rights to the site. So far, only a portion of those agencies have approved or scheduled votes, making their decisions critical to the city’s broader plan. Final approval would allow the city to officially classify Liberty Station as a “future development” site, enabling it to retain ownership rather than sell it off as a liquidation property. The effort is driven in part by a 2023 court ruling tied to a lawsuit from Seligman Properties, which argues that no real future development is planned and that the designation is invalid.

Report Identifies Impediments to Development of Affordable Housing

Nearly 39,880 affordable homes across 461 projects are currently stalled because they lack sufficient public funding to begin construction. A report by Enterprise Community Partners, a nonprofit dedicated to increasing housing supply, used data from the California Affordable Housing Production Pipeline which analyzes developments awaiting final funding to suggest that private, federal, and local investment is needed in order to address housing needs. To address the deficit, the brief proposes four key actions: invest immediate state funding, pass a 2026 housing bond, streamline the housing finance system, and tackle rising operational costs like insurance and maintenance. To move along the stalled projects in Pipeline, the state would need roughly $2.3 billion in direct subsidies, $1.8 billion in state tax credits, and $5.8 billion in tax-exempt bonds. On average, every $1 of state funding leverages about $3.6 in federal, local, and private investment, meaning delays could cost the state an estimated $7.7 billion in additional funding.

California Needs 1 Million More Affordable Homes

California faces a shortage of close to 1 million affordable homes, making it the third worst state after Nevada in Oregon, according to a report by the National Low Income Housing Coalition. The findings have not improved much from last year, despite changes in state housing policy, which may be due to lack of funding. Nationwide, there is a 7.2 million shortage of homes affordable and available for extremely low income renters. Extremely low income renters are defined as renters either the federal poverty guideline or 30% of their area median income. For every 100 extremely low-income renter households, only 35 affordable and available rental homes exist nationwide, with the supply ranging from 16 per 100 people in Nevada to 73 in South Dakota.

CP&DR Coverage: Fulton on CEQA "Shot Clocks"

The passage of AB 130 and SB 131 – the budget trailer bills from last summer – has shifted the landscape for planning in California in new ways. And although the impetus for these shifts came from the state’s desire to encourage more housing, there are pros and cons for both local governments and housing developers from the deal.On the one hand, the two bills – and a later cleanup bill, SB 158 – would seem to tip the scales further in the direction of housing developers. Among other things, the bills created a major new infill housing exemption for infill housing and created a “shot clock” for approval of ministerial projects.

On the other hand, the bills may have created more certainty and other advantages for cities and counties – and they may include a few warning signs for developers.

Quick Hits & Updates

The Solano County Board of Supervisors are requesting Suisun City to the pause annexation for California Forever until the county can update its general plan. The request, based on a 5-0 vote, came just before a city council meeting where Suisun City will consider a reimbursement agreement with California Forever to cover city expenses for exploring annexation, potentially bringing $10 million in public benefits. A lawyer for Suisun City raised concerns that the county’s letter discussion may have violated the Brown Act.

The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, which is aimed at bringing down housing costs, was passed 89-10 in the Senate and will now make its way to the House. It faces an uncertain future as House GOP leaders and conservative lawmakers argue they were left out of the bill they say was assembled without their input. It is expected to be one of the only pieces of bipartisan legislation to pass President Trump’s desk this year, and has the potential to become the first major housing bill to become law in roughly three decades. 

The City of Santa Monica released a draft framework for the Great Park set to replace the Santa Monica Airport upon its closure in 2028. The framework organizes the park into eight distinct spaces or “districts”. The framework will be presented to staff and City Council in late April.

The Monterey Park City Council voted unanimously on March 4 to place a June 2, 2026 ballot measure before voters that would prohibit data centers of any size citywide by amending the city’s general plan. The proposal follows strong community opposition to a planned facility, with residents raising concerns about electricity use, water consumption, and environmental impacts.

The Oakley City Council approved the Bridgehead Industrial Project after the developer removed plans for potential data centers from the proposal. The 164-acre development, planned on former vineyards near Big Break Regional Shoreline, will instead focus on logistics and warehouse uses in 10 buildings ranging from 117,180 sf to 936,680 sf. Data centers were removed after strong community opposition over concerns about electricity demand, water use, and environmental impacts, which helped secure enough council support for approval.

The Terner Center for Housing Innovation at UC Berkeley examined data from 691 new affordable housing projects funded by the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program in California from 2020–2023 to assess the effect of local impact fees on development costs. Almost all of these projects were charged impact fees, which on average added nearly $20,000 per housing unit to development costs, though approximately 13,660 affordable housing units on 134 projects saw figures closer to $30,000. While fees typically accounted for less than 5% of total development expenses, affordable developments paid an average of approximately $300 million in fees each year.

Oakland has unveiled its 2025–2029 Economic Development Action Plan (EDAP), designed to stabilize the economy and foster growth, particularly centering racial equity to confront gaps in home and business ownership opportunities. The five central goals of the plan include attracting high-growth industries, supporting local businesses, connecting residents to pathways to employment, investing in under-resourced neighborhoods, and supporting artistic, social and cultural activities.

The L.A. County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the county’s first heat action plan with three central goals: cooler outdoor spaces, cooler indoor spaces and better public education about the dangers of heat. Strategies include replacing blacktop at schools, installing shade structures, and tightening protections for safe indoor temperatures in rental properties.

The Sacramento Local Agency Formation Commission has approved the annexation of 450 acres of unincorporated land near Sacramento International Airport for the Airport South Industrial Project into the city of Sacramento. The project would bring warehouses, hotels and restaurants to the currently undeveloped land.

BART officials gave initial approval to a “doomsday” plan which involves potentially shutting down 10-15 stations by next year to save money. The plan would see immediate cost reductions starting January 2027, including a 63% decrease in train service, eliminating the red and green line, ending daily service at 9 p.m., 1,100 layoffs, higher parking fees, and furloughs for police, maintenance and cleaning service workers.

LA Metro will open three new stations on the D Line subway, connecting Los Angeles to Beverly Hills on May 8. Stations will be located at Wilshire/La Brea, Wilshire/Fairfax and Wilshire/La Cienega.

Research from UCLA Anderson School of Management suggests that Los Angeles’s Measure ULA or “mansion tax” may have backfired by slowing overall development rather than boosting housing supply, and led to increased strategic tax avoidance. After the transfer tax, which applied to property sales over $5 million, took effect in April 2023, city building permits plunged roughly 40 percent overall. The tax has raised about $378 million per year, well under the projected $600 million to $1.1 billion per year. (See related CP&DR coverage.)