Prop 45 Curbs CEQA Abuses Like the One that Added $88 Million to a UC Berkeley Student Housing Project
September 19, 2026
A subjective claim with no environmental basis added $88 million in costs to student housing at a campus that already houses the smallest share of its own students in the UC system
Sacramento, CA — A CEQA lawsuit over “social noise” tied up UC Berkeley student housing for three years and saddled taxpayers with an additional $88 million to build the project, driving up the price of desperately needed student housing. Under Prop 45, projects must be approved or denied based on clear, pre-existing written rules. Subjective claims not grounded in those standards, such as “social noise,” will no longer be allowed to overturn approved projects.
In 2021, anti-housing neighbors sued the University of California over a student housing project school officials approved on the UC Berkeley campus, arguing its environmental review hadn’t adequately studied the noise that future student residents would generate. The lawsuit drove costs up by $88 million, a 28 percent increase that added roughly $80,000 to the cost of every unit, even as UC Berkeley continues to house the smallest share of students across the UC system.
Even Governor Gavin Newsom called out the need for CEQA reform at the time: “Our CEQA process is clearly broken when a few Berkeley homeowners can block desperately needed student housing for years and even decades. The law needs to change…”
Prop 45 cuts red tape and costly delays so we can build essential projects faster and more affordably — including housing, clean energy and water, health care, schools, roads, and wildfire prevention. It sets clear, enforceable timelines and greater accountability so California can build faster and more affordably while maintaining strong environmental, labor, and tribal cultural resource protections and preserving local decision-making.
Experts estimate Prop 45 could cut costly delays by 2 to 10+ years — lowering costs, getting critical projects built sooner, and improving quality of life for Californians.
Stories like UC Berkeley’s aren’t the exception under the current system. They’re the predictable result of a law that lets any objection, however disconnected from environmental harm, hold up housing indefinitely.
BACKGROUND: Prop 45, the Building an Affordable California Act, modernizes California’s project approval and permitting process for essential projects — including housing, water infrastructure, clean energy, transportation infrastructure, hospitals and health care facilities, schools, broadband, and wildfire prevention projects — by establishing clear timelines, improving accountability, and reducing unnecessary delays, while preserving strong environmental, labor, and tribal cultural resource protections. Prop 45 is supported by a broad and growing coalition of 160+ organizations, including affordable housing advocates, civil rights leaders, clean energy builders, water providers, agricultural groups, and business organizations statewide.
Learn More: YESonProp45.com