When the state Legislature returns to Sacramento this month after its summer vacation recess, it will have just four weeks to do something meaningful about California’s single most important issue – a housing shortage that takes a heavy economic and psychological toll on many Californians and is getting worse.
Today, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced a proposal to create a new permanent fund that would provide legal assistance for struggling California renters and homeowners each year.
A massive housing project that San Bruno killed in a controversial vote last month could rise from the dead. Facing possible lawsuits and state fines over its recent rejection of the 425-unit project, the City Council will meet privately in the coming weeks to consider its options for the proposed development.
California is increasingly focused on promoting infill development to meet greenhouse gas targets and satisfy consumer demand for walkability and short commutes. Gov. Newsom’s budget adds to that focus with a $500 million deposit into a competitively awarded grant program for infill infrastructure.
The first half of 2019 saw a substantial decline in the number of new housing units authorized by building permits. This has heightened concern about the state’s housing crisis and cast doubt on whether Governor Newsom’s goal of adding 3.5 million new housing units by 2025 can be met. ...
Shock. Depression. Relief. Those were just some of the reactions as the year’s most controversial state housing bill met its sudden demise. But very few people—supporters, opponents, and even the author himself—can claim to have seen this coming.
The Appropriations Committee decided Thursday not to leave SB 50 in suspense forever, but also that it won’t come up for a vote until January of 2020. In a statement after the hearing, Wiener said he’s “deeply disappointed” by the decision and added, “We have a housing crisis right now. […] We’re either serious about solving this crisis, or we aren’t.”...
In the rugged hills to the east of the Napa Valley, chainsaws and bulldozers converted a steep hillside of scrubby oak woodland and rockpiles into another vineyard. “That was an incredible rock-hopping wonderland, with frothing, amazing, waterfalling cascades every time it rained—I mean, it should have been a park,” said nearby resident Kellie Anderson of what is now a plot of grapevines at Bremer Family Winery, in the small community of Deer Park.
Still stymied by Senate Bill 50, State Sen. Scott Wiener’s major proposal to increase housing along some of California transit hubs? Don’t worry. Berkeley illustrator and housing activist Alfred Twu, who designed the fantasy BART apartment complex and this previous flowchart, has a new chart to help explain SB 50, the MORE Homes Act.
Over the past decade, housing costs in the United States have risen faster than incomes. While housing affordability has long been a problem for low-income families, middle-income families are increasingly facing affordability challenges, especially in urban areas with strong labor markets. How do current housing policies help – or harm – the well-being of middle-class families?...
