Our Album – Bonus Tracks: Songs for Affordable Homes
Circulate Planning & Policy is a wonky nonprofit think tank, but today we did something unusual: we dropped an album.
The album is titled “Bonus Tracks: Songs for Affordable Homes,” and it’s a whimsical good time. It also serves a real purpose to highlight the success of California density bonus law (“Bonus Law”), as outlined in our recent report “Win-Win Bonus: How California's Bonus Law quietly transformed housing approvals.”
In addition to being excellent policy analysis, “Win-Win Bonus” now makes history as the world’s first think tank report to be accompanied by an awesome soundtrack. California Government Code § 65915 also makes history as the nation’s first state statute with its own tribute album.
Notable “Bonus Tracks” include:
- Twenty Sixteen, a polished synth-pop chart topper celebrating the history of Bonus Law policy being first developed by the City of San Diego, and then later extended statewide.
- Thank Sacramento, a Broadway showtune praising state leaders for reforming Bonus Law to make it easier for local elected officials to approve the affordable homes we need.
- Secret Planner, a K-Pop-inspired hit about a city planner secretly dedicated to helping her jurisdiction follow Bonus Law to approve more homes.
- Doo-Doo-Two, for children (and adults) who want to learn about Bonus Law and prefer Schoolhouse Rock to reading white papers.
- Coast Like Us, a diss track calling out the California Coastal Commission for its historical practices delaying and denying affordable homes in wealthy coastal communities.
The full album is available on Spotify and YouTube. Can't get enough? Pick up some limited edition merch from our online store!
But seriously, if you read our report Win-Win Bonus, you know that California Bonus Law should be celebrated for its successes. Since the adoption of recent enhancements sponsored by Circulate in 2020, Bonus Law has been used to approve:
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- More than 140,000 homes overall,
- More than 69,000 deed-restricted affordable homes,
- In 2024, 47 percent of all homes approved in multifamily projects,
- In 2024, 78 percent of all homes in 100 percent affordable projects, and
- In 2024, ten times more homes than every other tracked streamlining law.
What better way to celebrate than a dance party?
This album was generated through a collaboration of human efforts and the help of several artificial intelligence tools.
