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M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Nor does it pay for itself! Find out how you can support California YIMBY and back the pro-housing candidates needed to continue passing pro-housing reform: secure.actblue.com/donate/victo...

secure.actblue.com

Donate to the California YIMBY Victory Fund

Help end the housing shortage by supporting candidates and ballot measures.

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M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

California YIMBY is already planning for big things in 2027, and these bills don't pass themselves—they rely on an active movement backing us up. Find our how you can get involved: cayimby.org/action-hub/

cayimby.org

Action Hub - California YIMBY

Join us in building a movement of people who fight for more affordable, inclusive, vibrant communities. Take action today!

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M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Collectively, these incremental reforms add up to meaningful reform. I'm grateful to everyone involved and proud to have played a part. There is still work to be done—improving feasibility, implementing these laws, and getting the units built, but progress is being made. ✊🏘️

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M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Speaking of ADUs, AB 956, by Assemblymember Qurik-Silva, legalizes a second detached ADU on each residential property. Let's keep the ADU building boom going! After years of amazing pro-housing leadership, Assemblymember Quirk-Silva is retiring. 😭 cayimby.org/legislation/...

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M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

SB 1117, by @sabrinacervantes.bsky.social, ends the impact fee cliff that punishes family-sized ADUs, making two- and three-bedroom ADUs feasible. Senator Cervantes worked hard on this—many families will benefit from her work! cayimby.org/legislation/...

cayimby.org

SB 1117: Reducing the Cost of ADUs

SB 1117 will make it less costly to build ADUs by removing an arbitrary financial penalty that many jurisdictions impose on ADUs over 750 square feet.

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M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

SB 1014, by Senator Tim Grayson, will require cities to disclose any mandated on- and off-site improvements within early in the process. No more late, costly surprises that can kill projects. cayimby.org/legislation/...

cayimby.org

SB 1014: Predictable and Clear Infrastructure Requirements

SB 1014 would require cities to disclose all local requirements related to infrastructure (like sidewalks and sewers) within 30 days of a housing project’s initial application, and prohibit cities fro...

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M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

California YIMBY will be returning in future legislative sessions to establish the revolving loan fund needed to get the most out of this program. In general, California needs to focus on financing and feasibility, including expanded loan guarantee programs.

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M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

AB 2074, by @matthaneysf.bsky.social, requires all of California's major cities to establish transit-rich districts legalizing high-rise residential development and subjecting them to ministerial approvals. This will help to revive downtowns across the state. cayimby.org/legislation/...

cayimby.org

AB 2074: The Downtown Revitalization Act

AB 2074 will accelerate the recovery of dense, urban neighborhoods in California’s largest cities by streamlining the construction of high-rise, residential and mixed-use developments near regional tr...

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M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

SB 1116, by Senator Anna Caballero, massively cleans up the Starter Home Revitalization Act, legalizing and streamlining small-lot and townhouse subdivisions statewide. This will be key to expanding homeownership opportunities and reviving the California Dream. cayimby.org/legislation/...

cayimby.org

SB 1116: Strengthening the Starter Home Revitalization Act

SB 1116 will streamline the construction of smaller, lower-cost “starter” homes for home ownership by making several improvements to existing state housing law.

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M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

This week, nearly bill that California YIMBY helped to passed this year was signed into law! Shout out to @gavinnewsom.bsky.social for leaving office having passed some heavy-duty pro-housing reforms in his final session. Let's run through it. 🧵

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M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

It was tough work, but every time I hear that shovels are going in the ground and homes are getting built using SHRA, something that is happening at an escalating clip, I get a little emotional! I hope we can continue reviving the California Dream for many thousands of families. ❤️🏘

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M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

In the coming week, Max and I will publish a post on Substack explaining the finer details of the Starter Home Revitalization Act, as well as open questions, with guidance both for developers and implementing planners, and ideas for how the next generation of reformers can pick up the baton.

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M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

There is still work to be done. But we have built out the foundation of a statewide framework for streamlined small lot/townhouse/cottage court subdivisions in California. This framework will form the basis of a boom on the scale of ADU reform, but for homeownership.

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M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I'm grateful to a few people: Sen. Anna Caballero and her excellent chief of staff Jeffrey Roth, Sosan Madanat, our lobbyist, our many co-sponsors, and, of course, @cayimby.bsky.social, best in the business. @maxdubler.com, who ctushed it on SB 1116, will be taking over from me as policy lead.

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Reposted by M. Nolan Gray 🥑

Max Dubler 🏳️‍🌈 @maxdubler.com · 29/09/2026

Some professional news: @gavinnewsom.bsky.social just signed all 3 of the bills I worked on this year at @cayimby.bsky.social: AB 956 - 2 detached ADUs at single family homes SB 1116 - Starter Home Revitalization Act expansion SB 1117 - Fee relief for ADUs over 750 square feet

gov.ca.gov

Governor Newsom signs housing legislation, cementing California’s record progress to reduce unsheltered homelessness and build more homes | Governor of California

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M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I'm thrilled to share that SB 1116 was signed into law today. This represents four years of hard work by my team, across SB 684 and SB 1123, to iron out the wonky details, refine based on developer/planner feedback, and pass pro-housing reform that will get homes built. cayimby.org/legislation/...

cayimby.org

SB 1116: Strengthening the Starter Home Revitalization Act

SB 1116 will streamline the construction of smaller, lower-cost “starter” homes for home ownership by making several improvements to existing state housing law.

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M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Stan, stop losing at life, write your "I was the last Democrat on Earth, and now I'm MAGA" book, and ride into the sunset on a tidal wave of easy money.

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M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

I plan to be off Bluesky through my paternity leave, i.e. mid-November, except to post any pieces that come out and quickly log off. If you see me hanging around, reply, "Nolan, log off and spend time with your wife and kid!"

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M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Mom is recovering. Baby is healthy. The first week felt like a year. Suffice it to say that every trite, sappy thing you've ever heard about becoming a parent is true.

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M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

I do appreciate it when NIMBYs just say "the thing," instead of trotting out a bunch of bullshit about imagined sewer capacity or whatever

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M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Everything north of Sunset Boulevard in LA is a high fire severity zone. You're positing a hypothetical problem, doing absolutely zero research on it, and then demanding that anyone who disagrees with you go research it. This is toddler discourse.

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M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

High very severity areas are excluded; you two are having a conversation about a code neither of you have read! Simulacras, simulations, etc.

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M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Correct. Read the code folks. It's written in English. If that's too big a lift, AI is generally pretty good at parsing this sort of thing. leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_... law.justia.com/codes/califo...

leginfo.legislature.ca.gov

California Code, GOV 65852.28.

California Codes Text Search

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M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Dead malls blight suburbs across the United States. But what's keeping them from being redeveloped? It's more complicated than you might think—and it requires a policy fix. My latest in @washingtonpost.com: www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

washingtonpost.com

Opinion | Dead malls dot America. Why not get rid of them?

Across the country, dead malls remain locked up by decades-old agreements with former anchor tenants.

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M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Again, this is qualitatively different from staging, or using a photographer to get the lighting right. (I do think that using AI to slap California golden hour lighting on Midwest listings gets close.) These listings mislead and/or outright lie to buyers about the product.

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M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Weirdly, if you try to report this sort of listing malpractice to Zillow, they send you to an open-ended HelpCenter, which itself mostly seems to be AI generated content. It's slop all the way down, huh?

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M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

A healthy yard can cost many thousands of dollars and months of efforts to cultivate. Using of AI to turn dead grass into the Garden of Eden isn't as egregious as changing dimensions, but still—it's fraud. Why have realtor/broker licensing if not to stop this behavior?

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M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Using AI to confuse a prospective buyer as to the size of a backyard, and hallucinate non-existent improvements costing nearly $100,000 is, again, fraud. This is not staging or nice lighting—it's misleading the buyer about fundamental qualities of the product.

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M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Zillow has got to get a handle on the use of AI in listings. Using AI to mislead a prospective buyer into thinking that an attic might be useful as a living room and lounge is plainly fraud. Realtors evidently can't/won't police themselves, so the listing services should step in.

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M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

A few friendly bus stops I encountered in and around Sacramento.

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M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Little duplex in Roseville, California.

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M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Again, I don't see how there's any ethical (or practical) case against sailing the high seas when legal media consumption is variously either impossible, extremely expensive, or fraudulent in its own way—e.g. purchased media being taken away, unexpected game blackouts, etc.

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M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Haven't watched college sports in a while, huh?

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M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Every year around this time, I have two of the same thoughts: "Why is it so absurdly difficult to watch sports now?" and "Why do I bother?"

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M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

I'm good to go in Spanish and German. Wife is near-fluent in Japanese, but the extent of my knowledge is...pleasantries. I'd also like the place land to be the place we settle, and while Japan has a lot going for it, welcoming non-ethnic Japanese isn't among its finer qualities.

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M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

If there's one thing you should know about Guatemalans, it's that they hate Costa Ricans.

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M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Now that the US is closed, the rest of the Anglosphere is oddly hostile to them, there's like an avalanche of high-human capital Central Americans moving to Spain.

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M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Open thread: given that it seems like my wife and I will be in visa hell at least through 2028, and possibly beyond if the American Century of Humiliation continues, where should we move?

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M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

I'm all for investing way more in transit and multimodal infrastructure, but in the meantime, it's actually not the case that anyone needs to blow $50,000 on a big, goofy new truck; if cars are your hobby, nice, go for it, but most people should just buy a $8,000 2013 Prius that will run forever.

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M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Especially hilarious when people say this in cities that are below peak population.

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M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Yeah there is. It's called Craigslist. We've got to stop making excuses for people making silly financial decisions just because car companies have normalized silliness.

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M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

This is a dumb and tedious misreading of what I'm saying.

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M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

As an NYC planner, I staffed a public hearing for closing Rikers and reopening a Central Queens prison. (Fun stuff!) A guy complained about the traffic. I told him, we had done an EIR with a traffic study, and I could send it to him. He said "It's probably bullshit" and walked away. So strange!

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M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

To be clear, leftists remain wrong about Latin American domestic politics as a general rule. Anyone who has ever defended Castro or Maduro should be tagged as a moron and hustled out of the discourse. But their claim that the US is a cynical, imperial actor with respect to Latin America? Spot on.

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M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Nah, the amount of money that Americans voluntarily spend on cars is just a cultural problem. In every market in the US, you can buy a <15 year-old Corolla that that will run for decades for <$10,000. The solution is more people saying "buying new luxury cars is stupid," not subsidized car loans.

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M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Any given specific NIMBY argument—about infrastructure capacity, or home values, or aesthetics—is nearly always just a shell game masking generalized opposition to anything changing, and which is why it's a waste of time to engage with NIMBYs on details.

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M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Katarina is used to it by now, but most people down here look at me like I'm a space alien if I'm just drinking a glass of milk. I suppose this would be the equivalent in the US of watching someone drink a glass of creamer.

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