AB1021 – 2025 Education Workforce Housing Law #2

Year: 2025-26

On October 10, 2025, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law “Assembly Bill No. 1021” which was co-authored by cityLAB Co-Director Emmanuel Proussaloglou and cityLAB Director Dana Cuff. The bill was formally introduced in Sacramento by Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, one of the state’s foremost housing advocates. AB1021 further streamlines the development of affordable and mixed-income housing for teachers and support staff of California’s K-12 public schools on public land, opening additional opportunities for more significant housing developments on the tens of thousands of K-12 owned parcels of land in the state. Expanding on the foundation of AB2295, this bill now protects higher allowable densities and taller building heights, includes additional eligible properties to expand the benefits to more rural districts, and further expedites housing development processes. The new law also includes a CEQA exemption and more effectively tailored affordability requirements to help deliver projects that work most effectively for local school districts.

As Assemblymember Wicks observes, “California’s longstanding housing crisis is now affecting our education system, as the cost of housing keeps school districts from attracting and maintaining staff. AB 1021 addresses this issue head on, by cutting the red tape that keeps school districts from providing housing for teachers and other employees.” Co-sponsor Al Maratsuchi expands on this to say “Too many teachers and school staff cannot afford to live near the schools where they work… [and] AB 1021 makes it easier to use underutilized LEA land to build affordable housing for the education workforce.”

In authoring AB1021, cityLAB synthesized almost a decade of design research and hands-on engagement with local school districts that was supported by AUD students and the cityLAB team.