Chris Elmendorf (@CSElmendorf) / X

Chris Elmendorf

18.2K posts

Chris Elmendorf

@CSElmendorf

The law prof at UC Davis, not the developer in San Diego. Dad. Denizen of San Francisco. Patron of Amtrak. Tweets are my own, not statements of UC.

San Francisco

Joined July 2009

Chris Elmendorf
@CSElmendorf
Jun 14, 2022
Some striking asides in this @nytimes story about Houston's success combatting chronic homelessness: - 75% of homeless persons given a free apartment for a year hang on & pay market rents - Houston has *new* SROs (what other cities allow it?) 1/2 nytimes.com/2022/06/14/hea…
Chris Elmendorf
@CSElmendorf
Mar 11, 2025
It's exciting to see the public-intellectual drumbeat around "Abundance" manifest in this year's crop of California housing bills. They're far more ambitious--and promising--than anything I've seen previously. 🧵/17
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Chris Elmendorf
@CSElmendorf
Mar 20, 2025
An amazing read from Biden's top infrastructure guy. The reckoning is underway.
Ezra Klein
@ezraklein
Mar 20, 2025
Helluva piece by Brian Deese, Biden's former NEC director. America's "ability to deliver long-term growth and improve Americans’ quality of life hinges on whether it can build at scale."
149K
Chris Elmendorf
@CSElmendorf
Sep 21, 2024
On Jan. 1, 2025, most lots in San Francisco's residential neighborhoods will be opened up for 4-9 unit, 100% market-rate projects. Applicants may design their project *however they want,* provided it conforms to *some* zoning district anywhere in city. An explainer 🧵. 1/19.
299K
Chris Elmendorf
@CSElmendorf
Mar 26, 2025
CA's prohousing caucus has thrown down gauntlet: No more CEQA, period, for any housing project on an infill site (up to 20 acres!) that complies with applicable general plan & zoning standards. A decisive break w/ "everything bagel" tradition! leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavC… 1/3
309K
Chris Elmendorf
@CSElmendorf
Jul 1, 2025
Not loving @nytimes's "housing trumps the environment" gloss on today's generational reforms of CEQA. These reforms most certainly are not an invitation to pave over paradise. 1/9
101K
Chris Elmendorf
@CSElmendorf
Aug 13, 2022
Is environmentalism the main obstacle to infill housing in California? Over last 2 years, I've done significant pro bono work on CA housing bills & the sausage-making I've observed points to a very uncomfortable answer: Yes. 1/🧵.
Chris Elmendorf
@CSElmendorf
Jul 1, 2025
The karma of @GavinNewsom's triumph over CEQA is how how damn *FAST* it went down. The law that untold numbers of project opponents have leveraged for year after year after year of delays went from untouchable to demolished almost overnight. 1/4
Armand Domalewski
@ArmandDoma
Jul 1, 2025
GAVIN NEWSOM: To the NIMBY movement that's now being replaced by the YIMBY movement, go YIMBYs. Thank you for your abundant mindset. That’s a plug for @ezraklein. (And @DKThomp!!!)
00:00
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Chris Elmendorf
@CSElmendorf
May 18, 2024
Pictured below is a S.F. & California housing policy failure unfolding in my neighborhood. The corner lot, upzoned in 2009, was designated in city's housing element for up to 72 units of housing. It's now being gut-renovated for 2. 1/🧵.
387K
Chris Elmendorf
@CSElmendorf
Mar 8, 2023
A stunner: By huge majorities, both chambers of Washington leg. have voted to exempt *all* zoning-compliant housing in urban growth areas from mini-NEPA review. There's no project-labor mandate, BMR housing mandate, or anything else to jack up cost of eligible projects. 1/5
Dan Bertolet
@danbertolet
Mar 6, 2023
By 49-0, the WA Senate just passed SB 5412 that exempts housing projects from SEPA review and requires "clear and objective standards" for design review. Thank you Senator Salomon! Wild to see legislators geeking out so heavily on housing policy with this wonky bill! #Homes4WA
215K
Chris Elmendorf
@CSElmendorf
Dec 25, 2022
A Christmas Eve surprise from Court of Appeal in UC Berkeley "students are pollution" CEQA case. tl,dr: UC Berkeley & state housing + antidiscrimination policy got a lump of coal in their stockings. CEQA is about to get much, much worse unless the Leg or the AG steps in. 1/25
1M
Chris Elmendorf
@CSElmendorf
Apr 14, 2023
How unzoning via California's Density Bonus Law works: Squat ugly 12-story, zoning-compliant bldg --> squat ugly 18-story bldg w/ 50% density bonus --> magnificent 50-story building...wait, how? 1/8 sfyimby.com/2023/04/exclus…
126K
Chris Elmendorf
@CSElmendorf
May 29, 2022
Terrific @ezraklein column this morning. It's an indictment of blue-state Dems that Ezra's search for "ideas about how to build state capacity on the left" has come up empty. 1/4 nytimes.com/2022/05/29/opi…
Chris Elmendorf
@CSElmendorf
May 25, 2024
This story ⤵️ has the best graphical explainer of Prop. 13 I've ever seen. Big props to Nami & John!
Nami Sumida
@namisumida
May 24, 2024
Why do San Francisco's Painted Ladies have property taxes ranging from $1,000 to $44,000? My latest story on how the iconic houses explain Prop 13, California's most important (and complicated) housing law @sfchronicle sfchronicle.com/projects/2024/…
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