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Despite opposition from Los Angeles politicians<\/a>, this year\u2019s highest-profile California housing bill has cleared the state Legislature and is now waiting for Gov. Gavin Newsom\u2019s final approval.<\/p>\n If Newsom signs it into law, Senate Bill 79<\/a> would allow dense apartment buildings in neighborhoods that lie within a half-mile of major transit stops \u2014 even if those neighborhoods are currently zoned only for single-family homes.<\/p>\n But anyone trying to pinpoint SB 79\u2019s potential impact has had to wade through a lot of misinformation. Despite what a certain former reality TV star<\/a> has been saying in his viral TikTok videos, SB 79 would not bring skyscrapers to the Pacific Palisades.<\/p>\n We\u2019re now starting to get more clarity on how SB 79 could apply locally. The L.A. City Planning Department has published new maps<\/a> showing where developers could potentially build these projects, based on the location of the city\u2019s transit stops.<\/p>\n Linking housing and transit lines<\/p>\n Many homeowners are firmly against state lawmakers overriding local government restrictions to allow tall apartment buildings next to single-family homes. But advocates for increased development said these maps show SB 79 has the potential to bring new apartments to areas of L.A. where they\u2019re needed most.<\/p>\n Would California\u2019s big new housing bill affect your LA neighborhood? Use this map to find out<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a drastic under-supply of housing,\u201d said Scott Epstein, policy director of the group Abundant Housing L.A. The region is investing in new Metro stops, he said, but the low-density and high-cost housing surrounding those stops severely caps the number of potential riders.<\/p>\n \u201cMost people cannot afford to live within a quarter or half-mile of those transit stations. So [SB 79] makes a lot of sense,\u201d Epstein said.<\/p>\n How to check SB 79\u2019s impact on your block<\/p>\n If you\u2019re curious to see how SB 79 could affect your neighborhood, go to this City Planning link<\/a> and scroll down to the department\u2019s interactive map near the bottom of the page. Click on the search icon within the map to input your address. You\u2019ll see if your block falls into the quarter-mile or half-mile bubbles surrounding train and rapid bus lines, making the area eligible for denser housing.<\/p>\n One caveat to keep in mind: These are not the official, final maps the city will use to determine an area\u2019s SB 79 eligibility. These are only preliminary drafts.<\/p>\n The department\u2019s website says the maps are \u201cintended for exploratory purposes only, based on initial analysis of the language contained in Senate Bill 79, should it become law.\u201d<\/p>\n Final maps would eventually have to be produced by the Southern California Association of Governments, as required by SB 79.<\/p>\n Where SB 79 would place denser housing<\/p>\n The bill allows housing developments of varying sizes depending on how close they would be to different kinds of transit stops.<\/p>\n On streets directly next to subway stops, projects could be up to nine stories tall. In areas farther from light rail stops, the limit would be five stories. The changes could be dramatic in parts of a city where apartment development is banned on 72% of its residential land.<\/p>\n For example, the neighborhood surrounding the Westwood\/Rancho Park stop on the Metro E line is heavily zoned for single-family homes, some selling for $1.6 million<\/a> or more.<\/p>\n Cynthia Chvatal-Keane, president of the Hancock Park Homeowners Association, said the L.A. City Council recently chose to leave single-family neighborhoods untouched in its updated housing plan.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s those maps that create a fair plan to create density where it\u2019s needed,\u201d Chvatal-Keane said in an email to LAist. \u201cThe new maps created by the city as directed by the state \u2026 are a huge overreach.\u201d<\/p>\n LA mayor asks Newsom to veto SB 79<\/p>\n For similar reasons, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass has asked Newsom to veto SB 79. In a letter to the governor, she wrote that the city must create more housing.<\/p>\n \u201cHowever, we must do so in a way that does not erode local control, diminish community input on planning and zoning, and disproportionately impact low-resource neighborhoods,\u201d Bass wrote.<\/p>\n