The cost of building homeless housing in California is $700,000 per unit due to government regulations.
Posted by Ask Dr. Drew, Checked
- Sources
- 3 contradict2 support1 context
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 50%
Ask Dr. DrewOct 21, 2026
The $700,000 figure is supported only as a statewide estimate for affordable housing (about $708,000 per unit) and as the upper range of LA projects, while the typical recorded cost is lower (LA median about $531,000; Stanford average about $600,000 in 2021).
This claim is about the present, so it is judged as of the day it was checked.
What was said
… to be going about this, but what we do know, like you said, is the burdens, the burdensome regulations and the fees and all the costs associated with it because of government interference is so much. That's what's making housing affordable. Yeah, on a floor, I think about the housing, the housing they attempt to do for, for the reason it was $700,000 a unit for homeless housing, is because of these regulations, right? And then they had crazy, crazy standards for these houses. Like, I, I saw one of them in San Santa Monica. …
Ask Dr. Drew · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Contradicts. The LA Controller's 2026 audit puts the median cost of HHH homeless housing at $531,000 per unit, with only one project topping $700,000, so $700,000 is not the typical figure.[2]
Contradicts. The Stanford brief reports an average per-unit cost of almost $600,000 in 2021, with 14% of units exceeding $700,000, which again describes $700,000 as the top of the range rather than the norm.[3][5]
Supports. The Chronicle reports statewide development of a single affordable housing unit has been estimated at around $708,000, and that San Francisco's strict building code mandates and union-wage agreements add costs.[6]
Supports. The Governor's 2026 reforms estimate that One-Stop Shop and impact fee changes would cut affordable housing costs by $60,000 to $70,000 per unit, which implies regulatory processes and fees add meaningfully to costs.[4]
Context. The audit attributes rising costs mainly to pandemic-era material prices and labor shortages, and the 2016 projections were far below actual costs, which leaves the regulatory cause contested.[1][2]
Sources
6 sources: 1 fact-checker, 3 primary, 2 not rated
- 1LA spending up to $837,000 to house a single homeless personapnews.com · fact-checker · cited for: context
- 2The High Cost of Homeless Housing: Review of Proposition ...controller.lacity.gov · primary source · cited for: contradicts, context
- 3Homelessness in California: Causes and Policy Considerationssiepr.stanford.edu · primary source · cited for: contradicts
- 4Governor Newsom signs historic housing affordability reformsgov.ca.gov · primary source · cited for: supports
- 5LA's Homeless Housing Bond Measure Falls Short: Auditcommercialobserver.com · not rated · cited for: contradicts
- 6Lurie is asking S.F. voters for more affordable housing funding. But can he bring down costs?sfchronicle.com · not rated · cited for: supports
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post
Related claims
- It costs four times as much to build the equivalent piece of road in California as it does in Texas.Mixed
- The California State Auditor published a report showing that $24 billion of spending on homelessness could not be tracked.Mixed
- There are 188,000 homeless people in California.Mixed
- People who make over $300,000 in San Francisco qualify for government aid.True
- The California state government has mandated that high-density housing be built in Huntington Beach.True