Proceedings - The YIMBY Law Conference

Designing Policy for Outcomes

Yipeng Su (Urban Institute, Senior Research Associate, Housing and Communities Division)

• How Big Upzonings Affect Housing Supply — Urban Institute

• What Made Zoning Reforms in Philadelphia and New York City Impactful — Urban Institute

• How Upzoning Affects Housing Supply — Housing Matters (Urban Institute)

Presentation slides here.

Two Years After Sheetz: Fighting Impact Fees in the Courts

Daniel Freedman (Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP, Shareholder), Dylan Casey(CalHDF, Executive Director) and Jaimie Cavanaugh (Pacific Legal Foundation, Senior State Policy Counsel)

Case law and commentary:

• Sheetz v. County of El Dorado, U.S. Supreme Court opinion, April 12, 2024 — the decision and concurrences provide the foundation for understanding both the holding and the questions left open.

• SCOTUSblog, "Court rules for property owner in building fee dispute" — an accessible overview of Sheetz and its implications.

• Coalition for Fairness in SoHo and NoHo v. City of New York, Jan. 13, 2026 — a subsequent decision examining whether a monetary condition on residential conversion triggers Nollan/Dolan scrutiny, with a substantive dissent.

• Brownstein, "CEQA News You Can Use," April 2026 — see the section "City of Patterson development impact fees invalidated," discussing a California trial court ruling involving constitutional and statutory challenges to a development fee program.

• Pacific Legal Foundation, "Safe Harbor from Excessive Exactions" — PLF policy brief.

• Pacific Legal Foundation, "How to Protect Property Rights from Improperly Assessed Exactions"

Rewarding Outcomes: ROAD Act Case Study

Reed Schwartz (Institute for Progress, Associate Infrastructure Fellow) and Will Poff-Webster (Institute for Progress, Director of Infrastructure Policy)

• The Success of the New Federal Housing Law Now Rests on States and Localities — Institute for Progress

Presentation slides here.

Using AI to Implement SB79

Aaron Eckhouse (California YIMBY, Local and Regional Policy Programs Director), James Lloyd (CalHDF, Director of Planning and Investigations), Mark Kinney (ListenPublic, Founder), moderated by Leora Tanjuatco Ross (YIMBY Action, California Director)

Presentation slides here.

• ListenPublic — Implementing SB 79 tracker (referenced in the deck; code: yimbylaw2026)

Designing Policy for Enforcement

Ryan Patterson (Patterson & O'Neill, PC, Managing Partner)

• California Department of Housing and Community Development, Town of Los Gatos – 980 University Avenue Project – Notice of Potential Violation, Feb. 12, 2025 (Housing Accountability Unit), with enclosed Town of Los Gatos – Saratoga Road Project – Letter of Technical Assistance, Aug. 30, 2024 — both on Permit Streamlining Act 90-day incompleteness resets and State Density Bonus Law.

• Janet Jha v. City of Los Angeles, et al., Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, No. 23STCP03499 — Decision on Petition for Writ of Mandate, Granted with Remand, July 24, 2024 (PSA, HAA, and Density Bonus Law violations).

• Californians for Homeownership, Inc. v. City of Beverly Hills, et al. (related to 9300 Wilshire, LLC v. City of Beverly Hills), Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, Case No. 24STCP02082 — Ruling on Petitions for Writ of Mandate, Aug. 12, 2025 (petitions granted; HAA and PSA builder's remedy dispute).

• MEEDL LLC v. City and County of San Francisco, et al., Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco, Case No. CPF-26-519727 — Judgment Granting Petition for Writ of Mandate, Aug. 27, 2026 (HAA, SB 35/423 ministerial approval, and Density Bonus Law; Patterson & O'Neill, PC for petitioner).

• Teodorescu, Kinneret, Ori Plonsky, Shahar Ayal, and Rachel Barkan. 2021. "Frequency of Enforcement Is More Important Than the Severity of Punishment in Reducing Violation Behaviors." PNAS 118(42): e2108507118.

The Evidence for Organizing: How Advocates are Effecting Implementation

Alexander Sahn (UNC Chapel Hill, Assistant Professor of Political Science)

Research covered in the talk:

• Sahn, Alexander. 2025. "Public Comment and Public Policy." American Journal of Political Science 69(2): 685–700. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajps.12900

• Sahn, Alexander, and Tyler Simko. "Issue Accountability Among Public Meeting Commenters." American Journal of Political Science, Conditionally Accepted. https://osf.io/vxpc5/files/qn3rx

• Einstein, Katherine Levine, David M. Glick, and Maxwell Palmer. 2019. Neighborhood Defenders: Participatory Politics and America's Housing Crisis. Cambridge University Press. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/neighborhood-defenders/0677F4F75667B490CBC7A98396DD527A

• Yoder, Jesse. 2020. "Does Property Ownership Lead to Participation in Local Politics? Evidence from Property Records and Meeting Minutes." American Political Science Review 114(4): 1213–1229. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/abs/does-property-ownership-lead-to-participation-in-local-politics-evidence-from-property-records-and-meeting-minutes/E3BAEB8B52992D8FCF37FF3166BB2E77

• Dynes, Adam M., Christopher F. Karpowitz, and J. Quin Monson. 2022. "How Local Officials Respond to Expressions of Public Opinion." Working paper. http://adamdynes.com/documents/WP_2022_dynes-etal_local-responsiveness.pdf

Data:

• San Francisco Planning Commission in-person and email comment data, 1998–2026

Presentation slides here.

Rubber Meeting the Road: Political Organizing to Get Housing Actually Built

Jeremy Levine (Palo Alto Forward & Jeremy's Quarterly, Writer/Executive Director), Rashi Kesarwani (Berkeley City Council), Emily Ann Ramos (Mayor of Mountain View), Bobak Esfandiari

Supplemental reading:

• The YIMBY Revolution Will Be Litigated — Jeremy Levine's recap of the conference.