No other city in the Northern San Joaquin Valley has as many housing units in various stages of the entitlement process than Manteca.

As of Sept. 1, there are 14,335 housing units — including 7,914 single family homes that have entitled subdivision lots.

Manteca — as was repeatedly noted in the mayoral race — cannot stop or slow down housing construction even if it wanted to do so.

The 3.9 percent growth cap established in 1988 is essentially suspended under the Housing Crisis Act of 2019.

That California law suspends and preempts local housing growth caps, numeric limits, and population ceilings primarily through Senate Bill 330. The law, passed in 2019 and extended several years later, is in effect until Jan. 1 ,2030.

It is highly likely it will be extended as removing roadblocks to more housing production is a high policy priority for Sacramento in a bid to ease the state’s perennial housing shortage.

The law:

*Legally preempts and suspends local voter-approved or city-council-enacted housing caps.

*Prohibit local governments from downzoning residential property (unless they upzone an equivalent amount elsewhere) or enacting housing construction moratoriums

*Limits cities to a maximum of 5 public hearings on a qualifying housing project.

*Freezes residential development standards and impact fees at the levels in effect when a formal preliminary application is filed.

About the 14,335 housing

units now on Manteca’s books

The 14,335 units using the low end of the City of Manteca’s estimated population yield per unit represents a potential for 44,578 more residents.

To put that in perspective:

*Manteca currently has 98,000 residents.

*Lathrop currently has 40,943 residents.

*Ripon currently has 16,140 residents.

While the numbers seem staggering, the city at any given time since 2000 has had between 9,000 and 14,500 housing units at some point in the entitlement process.

Clearly, not all of those housing units will be built.

But with Manteca absorbing between 600 and 1,306 housing annually — the record high was in 2024 with 1,306 housing starts — developers hold enough entitled lots (7,914) to meet a repeat of 2024 for six consecutive years.

Entitled means all that is stopping a development from moving forward is requesting grading and building permits as well as paying growth and connection fees for water and sewer.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com