Assemblymember Ward Introduces Legislation to Help Reduce Housing Costs, Facilitate Middle-Income Developments

• Mike Blount
• Communications Director
• (916) 812-6984
• [email protected]

(SACRAMENTO, CA) - With California still in the midst of a housing crisis, Assemblymember Chris Ward (D-San Diego) has introduced legislation on the first day of the 2025-26 session to reduce costs from housing mandates and improve the building standards governing middle income developments. AB 6 would require necessary state entities to study and recommend to the California Building Standards Commission simplified standards to allow smaller developments between three and 10 units to be built under the requirements of the California Residential Code, rather than the California Building Code.

"As Chair of the Housing and Community Development Committee, I believe we should be utilizing every available efficiency and cost-saving measure that preserves health and safety in building more affordable housing," said Assemblymember Ward. "AB 6 also recognizes the need to reduce construction cost pressures by directing California Housing and Community Development to identify standards contributing to those increased costs and consider those pressures in the future, with a goal of reducing costs by 30%."

Currently, the California Residential Code (CRC) governs the construction of one- and two-family dwellings and townhouses of three stories or less, while the California Building Code (CBC) establishes requirements for all other buildings, including medium and high-density housing. However, certain reasonable requirements in the CBC for larger buildings can make development prohibitively complicated or render the economics infeasible for smaller ones. As a result, several jurisdictions across the United States have begun to allow smaller, missing-middle housing types, including triplexes and fourplexes, to be built under the requirements of the CRC.

Additionally, the unit cutoffs in the CRC do not align with the current financing offerings for constructing one- to four-unit dwellings. FHA-backed mortgages allow recipients to take advantage of more affordable financing for construction up to a fourplex, but the rigidity of the CBC hinders this possibility. AB 6 will unlock the production of triplexes and other smaller multi-family housing types by streamlining code requirements, while preserving health and safety and opening up a broader workforce to build these projects.

"I am honored to coauthor AB 6 with Assemblymember Ward to tackle California's housing crisis head-on," said Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva (D-Fullerton). "This is about giving families the foundation to build their futures, strengthening the fabric of our communities. I would like to thank Assemblymember Ward for his inspiring leadership on this issue, and I am proud to stand with him as we build a future where every Californian has a place to call home."