Gavin’s Housing Tech Blitz: AI, CEQA Fixes, and State Muscle to Build Homes

America’s favorite Governor Daddy Gavin Newsom just did the unthinkable in 2026 - using AI tools for public good. It’s shocking, really, a politician using AI to help people instead of standing up a fake “Department of Government Efficiency” and using it to mass fire large swaths of people and send everyones data to Palantir.

Additionally, Newsom will roll out CEQA changes to blunt frivolous delays, turn state-controlled land into housing, create new transit-friendly zoning.

Start with the sexy part: the tech. In April 2025 Newsom unveiled an AI permit-review tool - built with Archistar and handed to Los Angeles City and County - designed to pre-validate designs against building codes using computer vision and machine learning so applicants stop playing the revision roulette that eats months (or years) of momentum. You can see the rollout details at the governor’s office post about the tool here.

The mid-2025 budget included trailer bills AB 130 and SB 131 that rework parts of CEQA so infill and critical infrastructure projects skip some of the full environmental review that has been weaponized to stop housing. He signed those changes into law on June 30, 2025 - yes, actual statutory change - and the administration framed it as removing loopholes that encourage delay rather than protecting the environment (read the rollout here).

And for people who say zoning reform was too timid, Newsom signed the Abundant & Affordable Homes Near Transit Act - SB 79 - in October 2025, loosening rules to allow mid-rise housing near major transit hubs. NIMBYs will be big mad because they want to protect parking lots and single-family sprawl.

Environmental groups worry that streamlining CEQA will erode meaningful review, and those critiques are public and real (see the coverage in The Guardian). But there is a world where the choice is not between bulldozing nature and doing nothing - it’s between bureaucratic theater that results in no housing and smartly targeted reforms combined with monitoring that produces homes while protecting what matters. So, not everyone is happy, but how often do we please everyone?

Nationally, people will be watching how California executes this: a successful model amps Newsom’s credibility on housing and technology, which matters for national positioning (some commentators have speculated about the broader implications for his political standing; see AP’s discussion about how governance successes travel on the national stage. But the policy stands on its own. If it works, it just works - regardless of who gets a bump in Iowa.

I fully expect MAGA to complain about this, while at the same time complaining about how expensive California is. We’ll see? But it’s nice to see AI used for some common good.