Transit may get some much-needed funding thanks to the newly passed Connect Bay Area Act, which authorizes the placement of a five-county sales tax measure on the November 2026 ballot. If passed, the measure could generate about $1 billion annually for transit operations. SPUR helped develop the law, which includes robust oversight measures to ensure fair fund distribution and requires transit operators to improve financial efficiency.

As federal support for climate resilience diminishes and state funding ebbs and flows, local governments and residents are increasingly burdened with hazard mitigation and adaptation costs. They are relying mainly on municipal funding mechanisms, such as taxes and bonds, that are insufficient and often inequitable. SPUR is investigating collaborative financing models and new partnerships to effectively and equitably address climate risks.

This month, Governor Newsom signed into law 45 housing-related bills, including four sponsored by SPUR. We played a critical role in developing these bills, which aim to facilitate low- and middle-income multifamily housing near transit. The bills address zoning, mixed-income housing on commercial properties, transparency in housing production, and traffic impact fees, significantly advancing the state’s housing goals.

Multifamily condos made up only 3 percent of new housing built in California between 2011 and 2021, compared to 38 percent in Canada. Why? A new report commissioned by the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at UC Berkeley and SPUR identifies a direct consequence of our state’s construction defect liability laws: the high cost of insurance for condo builders pushes developers to build rental apartments instead of for-sale projects that could create more affordable homeownership opportunities.