California state laws, including 2017’s Senate Bill No. 35 and 2019’s Senate Bill No. 330, require housing development projects to be reviewed against objective design standards. Certain projects may only be denied approval by local governments if they violate these objective standards, which must be verifiable and measurable.
Download the Objective Design Standards Toolkit.
The California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) created this toolkit to help local governments establish clear objective design standards in their plans and codes. The toolkit includes definitions, best practices and examples, as well as an overview of several key topics.