Wake Up California

We debunk narratives; Did you know:

NO NEED FOR 2.5 MILLION UNITS

DEFINITION OF LOW INCOME IS OFTEN OVER $100,000

SUPPLY DOESNT CREATE AFFORDABILITY

Policy ignores the CA Department of Finance population projections that show us practically flat out to 2060. The need for housing 7.5 million more residents is unsupported and the methodology behind that number failed audit.

SUPPLY DOESNT CREATE AFFORDABILITY

DEFINITION OF LOW INCOME IS OFTEN OVER $100,000

SUPPLY DOESNT CREATE AFFORDABILITY

Housing prices don’t “trickle down” to lower income groups — building more luxury housing doesn’t lead to more affordability. Landlords know that lowering prices reduces the value of the building. And even if a $5,000 apartment was reduced to $4,900, it has no effect on anyone in a lower income threshold. We aren’t building enough of the right type of housing.

DEFINITION OF LOW INCOME IS OFTEN OVER $100,000

There’s clearly a need for housing people can afford. Current laws and policies are overwhelmingly producing market rate housing and when low income units are added they rarely address needs below $100,000 income

NOT ALL PARTS OF CA NEED TO DENSIFY

DENSIFICATION IN HAZARD AREAS CAN BE DEADLY

DEFINITION OF LOW INCOME IS OFTEN OVER $100,000

Huge housing mandates were not targeted to growth where it’s needed. It’s distributed to every locality, regardless of infrastructure, hazards, transit, upgradable infrastructure, sustainable water supply, or job creation

DENSIFICATION IN HAZARD AREAS CAN BE DEADLY

Huge amounts of housing have been mandated in localities across CA that are in the path of wildfire without sufficient evacuation for current residents. Density invites spread of fire, but the state doesn’t factor in the safety of current or future residents.

CITY RESOURCES ARE BEING DRAINED

DENSIFICATION IN HAZARD AREAS CAN BE DEADLY

Just the “paperwork” and consultant fees to produce documents for the state showing where housing could be sited cost localities hundreds if thousands to millions of dollars — money not going toward creating housing.

WAKE UP CALIFORNIA COALITION

Wake Up California is a growing statewide coalition advocating for affordable housing and safe, livable communities. We push back against state pressure with facts often ignored by the press. We invite organizations large and small to join forces here and coordinate with greater strength and impact. We support housing where it fits. We insist on verified evacuation and infrastructure capacity in wildfire, flood, and earthquake zones before approvals move forward. Communities closest to the risk should have the authority to plan for it.

WHAT WE DO

We help local groups and neighbors across California work in concert, share verified information, and take effective action when new bills and mandates move fast.

Rapid alerts and action tools: clear updates, call scripts, letters, and talking points you can use immediately
Local safety and infrastructure support: help communities document evacuation routes, access, and capacity limits with facts, not rumors
Statewide coordination: connect groups across regions so we show up together, not one city at a time
Use economic data to support our work, and share our resources

Get updates

FOCUS ON HOUSING PEOPLE, NOT PRODUCTION TARGETS

Top down mandates aren’t working

Californians need to solve our real problems together. Making housing more affordable to struggling wage earners needs to be a priority.

We don’t need to dismantle the neighborhoods we love to do this. The density being pushed on us is unnecessary, and is just creating more luxury housing.

California communities are unique

Growth is best planned in areas with jobs, transit, infrastructure, and buildable land. The state shouldn’t be forcing our local governments to densify hazard areas.

Population projections and reliable data

Real population and job growth projections are supposed to determine our future housing needs. The state is not using Department of Finance projections. While groups like YIMBY focus on accelerating housing production by removing local decision-making, WAKE UP CA believes lasting solutions require affordable homes, local stewardship, and public accountability.

The laws AREN’T making HOUSING AFFORDABLE

You can see it here, on the state’s own website: https://www.hcd.ca.gov/housing-open-data-tools/apr-dashboard

WAKE UP TO THE LAWS AND POLICIES PUTTING US AT RISk

Housing Mandates Ignore Public Safety

Density = Structure to Structure Spread

Density allows fire to spread rapidly. The huge mandates and density demands are forcing cities to make impossible decisions: Approve developments that impact public safety or face lawsuits, fines, and further loss of local land use control.

Good Planning means accounting for:

Verified evacuation capacity, based on realistic congestion and emergency scenarios
Infrastructure readiness: water, roads, emergency response, drainage
Hazard-aware siting: wildfire, flood risk, seismic exposure, and access constraints
Environmental contamination and degradation

Can We Get Out Safely?

Dense housing In wildfire, flood, and earthquake zones can be approved without verified evacuation capacity or infrastructure readiness. Streamlining laws allow huge projects to proceed swiftly to approvals without impact studies, community input, or long term planning. We can meet housing needs without gambling with public safety or tearing down stable neighborhoods:

Good policy means better outcomes

Communities Must Shape Their Own Growth

Local residents understand:

Fire and evacuation realities
Infrastructure limits
Environmental constraints
Community needs

Cities should retain the authority to plan, not just process applications.

Count Affordability First

Housing policy should consider how many people are served, and at what cost. Instead, the state assigns unachievable unit targets, and twists the numbers: a studio apartment, a two bedroom condo, a five bedroom house, and a fifty bed care facility are all counted as a single unit, regardless of the number of people housed. Affordability isn’t part of the total count.

Developers must be accountable stakeholders

If private entities are granted public power, they must:

Participate in community solutions, not override them.
Provide enforceable affordability
Share long-term responsibility for impacts

Profit should follow public benefit—not replace it.

We’re all feeling the loss of stewardship

Frustrated by what you see happening to your community? Feel that California has lost its way? A vision of California created by special interest groups claims that we have a housing crisis at "all levels," and is forcing development into our communities. The true crisis is a lack of housing affordable to lower income families, but almost all of that forced development is more luxury development at a high cost to our environment, our infrastructure and our safety.

STRONGER TOGETHER

We debunk narratives; Did you know:

NO NEED FOR 2.5 MILLION UNITS

DEFINITION OF LOW INCOME IS OFTEN OVER $100,000

SUPPLY DOESNT CREATE AFFORDABILITY

SUPPLY DOESNT CREATE AFFORDABILITY

DEFINITION OF LOW INCOME IS OFTEN OVER $100,000

SUPPLY DOESNT CREATE AFFORDABILITY

DEFINITION OF LOW INCOME IS OFTEN OVER $100,000

DEFINITION OF LOW INCOME IS OFTEN OVER $100,000

DEFINITION OF LOW INCOME IS OFTEN OVER $100,000

NOT ALL PARTS OF CA NEED TO DENSIFY

DENSIFICATION IN HAZARD AREAS CAN BE DEADLY

DEFINITION OF LOW INCOME IS OFTEN OVER $100,000

DENSIFICATION IN HAZARD AREAS CAN BE DEADLY

DENSIFICATION IN HAZARD AREAS CAN BE DEADLY

DENSIFICATION IN HAZARD AREAS CAN BE DEADLY

CITY RESOURCES ARE BEING DRAINED

DENSIFICATION IN HAZARD AREAS CAN BE DEADLY

DENSIFICATION IN HAZARD AREAS CAN BE DEADLY

WAKE UP CALIFORNIA COALITION

zooms mondays at 5:00 pm

we can’t do this work Without you

FOCUS ON HOUSING PEOPLE, NOT PRODUCTION TARGETS

Top down mandates aren’t working

California communities are unique

Population projections and reliable data

WAKE UP TO THE LAWS AND POLICIES PUTTING US AT RISk

Housing Mandates Ignore Public Safety

Density = Structure to Structure Spread

OUR TOWNS AND COMMUNITIES ARE UNIQUE; ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL

Good policy means better outcomes

Communities Must Shape Their Own Growth

Count Affordability First

Developers must be accountable stakeholders

It’s not just about quantity

Streamlining to make building easier isn’t working

We’re all feeling the loss of stewardship

YOUR DONATION HELPS US do this work

More coming here soon

STRONGER TOGETHER

We debunk narratives; Did you know:

NO NEED FOR 2.5 MILLION UNITS

DEFINITION OF LOW INCOME IS OFTEN OVER $100,000

SUPPLY DOESNT CREATE AFFORDABILITY

SUPPLY DOESNT CREATE AFFORDABILITY

DEFINITION OF LOW INCOME IS OFTEN OVER $100,000

SUPPLY DOESNT CREATE AFFORDABILITY

DEFINITION OF LOW INCOME IS OFTEN OVER $100,000

DEFINITION OF LOW INCOME IS OFTEN OVER $100,000

DEFINITION OF LOW INCOME IS OFTEN OVER $100,000

NOT ALL PARTS OF CA NEED TO DENSIFY

DENSIFICATION IN HAZARD AREAS CAN BE DEADLY

DEFINITION OF LOW INCOME IS OFTEN OVER $100,000

DENSIFICATION IN HAZARD AREAS CAN BE DEADLY

DENSIFICATION IN HAZARD AREAS CAN BE DEADLY

DENSIFICATION IN HAZARD AREAS CAN BE DEADLY

CITY RESOURCES ARE BEING DRAINED

DENSIFICATION IN HAZARD AREAS CAN BE DEADLY

DENSIFICATION IN HAZARD AREAS CAN BE DEADLY

WAKE UP CALIFORNIA COALITION

zooms mondays at 5:00 pm

we can’t do this work Without you

FOCUS ON HOUSING PEOPLE, NOT PRODUCTION TARGETS

Top down mandates aren’t working

California communities are unique

Population projections and reliable data

WAKE UP TO THE LAWS AND POLICIES PUTTING US AT RISk

Housing Mandates Ignore Public Safety

Density = Structure to Structure Spread

OUR TOWNS AND COMMUNITIES ARE UNIQUE; ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL

Good policy means better outcomes

Communities Must Shape Their Own Growth

Count Affordability First

Developers must be accountable stakeholders

It’s not just about quantity

Streamlining to make building easier isn’t working

We’re all feeling the loss of stewardship

YOUR DONATION HELPS US do this work

More coming here soon

This website uses cookies.