A lesson on California housing from the billionaires planning a new city
1 year, 3 months ago

A lesson on California housing from the billionaires planning a new city

LA Times  

A cadre of Silicon Valley elites is drawing fierce criticism from local residents and environmentalists for planning a new city on the outskirts of the Bay Area, a project dubbed “California Forever.” But the effort should be applauded for revealing a truth about California’s failed housing policies. Yet the state’s supposedly pro-development new housing laws have yet to produce more homes at a scale sufficient to address the affordability crisis, and recent data suggest an accelerating decline in housing production. To encourage growth where it’s happening naturally, the state could create a “Housing Opportunity Area” comprising the Central Valley and Inland Empire, subject to more liberal rules than the coast. A “7% solution” to the California housing crisis would free up 1 million more acres to build the new communities that we largely stopped building around 2000, when we had 5 million fewer people.

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History of this topic

Solutions: Harris promised 3 million new homes. States might actually make it happen
3 weeks, 2 days ago

Solutions: Harris promised 3 million new homes. States might actually make it happen

LA Times  

Vice President Kamala Harris made a bold campaign promise: If elected president, she would get 3 million new homes built. Finally, when interest rates shot up as the Fed fought inflation, homeowners with historically low mortgage rates avoided selling their homes, leaving few homes for sale and many prospective buyers empty-handed. Economists believed Harris’ proposals — such as a large …

Letters to the Editor: We know some Californians are leaving. What about the millions staying?
2 months, 1 week ago

Letters to the Editor: We know some Californians are leaving. What about the millions staying?

LA Times  

To the editor: The L.A. Times published yet another piece telling us about why people are leaving California. However, millions of people stay in California, but the focus is on the thousands who leave. To The Times, how about writing something about the millions who stay because there is no place they would rather live? To the editor: It’s interesting …

Silicon Valley-backed voter plan for a new California city won’t be on the November ballot after all
5 months ago

Silicon Valley-backed voter plan for a new California city won’t be on the November ballot after all

Associated Press  

FAIRFIELD, Calif. — A Silicon Valley-backed initiative to build a green city for up to 400,000 people in the San Francisco Bay Area on land now zoned for agriculture won’t be on the Nov. 5 ballot after all, officials said Monday. The California Forever campaign qualified for the ballot in June, but a Solano County report released last week raised …

L.A. population is aging fast. Here’s how it’s dramatically transforming the city
5 months, 3 weeks ago

L.A. population is aging fast. Here’s how it’s dramatically transforming the city

LA Times  

Alex Ortega, 84, dances while enjoying festivities with his fellow seniors at the 1st Annual Senior Prom Despite its image as a magnet of youth, Los Angeles County is aging fast. “We’ve never been top heavy like this before,” with a lack of young people to support older generations, said Dowell Myers, a professor of policy, planning and demography at …

Opinion: California will force Malibu and other towns to add housing. Here’s why that’s not nearly enough
7 months ago

Opinion: California will force Malibu and other towns to add housing. Here’s why that’s not nearly enough

LA Times  

California has taken unprecedented action to spur housing production in recent years. Since 2017 the Legislature has passed nearly a hundred new laws to facilitate construction, including requiring cities to update local housing plans with more ambitious production targets. And the attorney general scored recent high-profile victories in legal conflicts to advance plans for housing in the wealthy cities of …

Law that ended single-family zoning is struck down for five Southern California cities
7 months, 3 weeks ago

Law that ended single-family zoning is struck down for five Southern California cities

LA Times  

Men fish at the pier in Redondo Beach, one of five cities fighting California to restore single-family zoning in its neighborhoods. Rob Bonta, whose office defended the law, said the attorney general is reviewing the decision “and will consider all options in defense of SB 9.” SB 9 is one of the highest-profile laws approved in response to California’s housing …

These are the California cities where $150,000 still buys you a home. Could you live here?
8 months ago

These are the California cities where $150,000 still buys you a home. Could you live here?

LA Times  

A view of the Searles Valley Minerals facility in Trona, Calif. For the last 30 years, Ann Epperly has lived in Trona, one of only nine California cities, towns and unincorporated areas tracked by Zillow with median home values under $150,000 in February 2024. Living off the beaten path has its benefits, she said, noting that “it’s quiet, you don’t …

California housing crisis so bad once-modest towns have become ‘million-dollar cities’
8 months, 1 week ago

California housing crisis so bad once-modest towns have become ‘million-dollar cities’

LA Times  

An aerial view of housing in Tustin on Friday. The city has joined California’s growing list of “million-dollar cities.” When you think of towns with $1-million-plus homes, places such as Beverly Hills, San Marino, Newport Beach and Palos Verdes Estates might come to mind. Tustin has joined California’s long list of “million-dollar cities.” Tor Black, 55, has lived in Tustin …

California’s housing crisis is hitting Nevada hard. Could that help Trump win a crucial state?
8 months, 2 weeks ago

California’s housing crisis is hitting Nevada hard. Could that help Trump win a crucial state?

LA Times  

Christine Dyken had just returned home after picking up her grandson from school, and she was stressed. “We’re really living paycheck to paycheck,” Dyken said last month, standing alongside Doreen, who works at a casino. “I think he realizes the magnitude of the situation,” Steve Sisolak, a Democrat who was Nevada’s governor from 2019 to 2023, said of Biden. “Despite …

California is gripped by economic problems, with no easy fix
8 months, 2 weeks ago

California is gripped by economic problems, with no easy fix

Hindustan Times  

HOME TO MANY of America’s most progressive policies, from criminal justice to vehicle emissions, California serves a unique role as a punchbag for right-wing politicians. The Legislative Analyst’s Office, a nonpartisan fiscal adviser for California’s legislature, last autumn pointed to the rise in unemployment as a potential signal of a recession in the state. In his budget for the new …

Opinion: Why is California behind Texas and other states in curbing homelessness?
8 months, 2 weeks ago

Opinion: Why is California behind Texas and other states in curbing homelessness?

LA Times  

Rent is surging nationwide. Texas cities also stand out: Last year, the Houston metropolitan area achieved the lowest rate of homelessness of any major U.S. city, with just 52 people per 100,000 residents experiencing homelessness. Meanwhile, five of the top 10 major cities with the highest rates of homelessness nationally are in California: San Francisco, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Oakland …

Droves of Californians are moving to Texas. Here’s the life they are finding
1 year, 1 month ago

Droves of Californians are moving to Texas. Here’s the life they are finding

LA Times  

The California exodus isn’t over. “We used to laugh at those people in L.A.” because of their long commutes, Dickerson said, “and now that’s what we’re seeing” as people move farther from city centers in search of affordability. Though Texas has added a lot of housing, “we’re building more on the high end and not affordable housing,” Dickerson said. Locally, …

California has so many new housing laws. Now let's put them to use
1 year, 2 months ago

California has so many new housing laws. Now let's put them to use

LA Times  

Could 2023 be the sleeper year for solving California’s housing crisis? California’s housing shortage was created over decades by a panoply of state and local regulations, some designed to slow growth and home construction. Bills signed into law by Newsom target key housing reforms, including making it easier to convert existing commercial or industrial buildings into housing, rethinking staircase requirements …

California lawmakers vote to fast-track low-income housing on churches’ lands
1 year, 3 months ago

California lawmakers vote to fast-track low-income housing on churches’ lands

Associated Press  

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California lawmakers are debating nearly 1,000 bills during the hectic final two weeks of the Legislative session. Here’s action taken by the California Legislature Thursday: AFFORDABLE HOUSING ON CHURCHES’ LANDS Religious institutions and nonprofit colleges in California could soon turn their parking lots and other properties into low-income housing to help combat the ongoing homeless crisis, lawmakers …

Opinion: How L.A. can build more housing without looking like New York
1 year, 3 months ago

Opinion: How L.A. can build more housing without looking like New York

LA Times  

With the typical cost of a home in Los Angeles soon topping $1 million, and the state’s median rent approaching $3,000, there’s a sense of doom around how unaffordable California has become. Los Angeles is geographically vast — nearly twice the size of Chicago and significantly larger than New York City, with much lower population density than those two cities. …

Opinion: Another consequence of the L.A. housing crisis: The Fresno housing crisis
1 year, 4 months ago

Opinion: Another consequence of the L.A. housing crisis: The Fresno housing crisis

LA Times  

When I was 7, my mom and I were displaced from our two-bedroom apartment in Fresno. Communities such as Fresno, once known as a relatively affordable oasis in a costly state, are the newest epicenters of California’s housing crisis. Last spring, teams of young people and volunteers with Power California and the Fresno Housing Coalition contacted more than 1,000 Fresno …

‘I don’t want to become San Francisco’: Urban woes spur state action on housing
1 year, 5 months ago

‘I don’t want to become San Francisco’: Urban woes spur state action on housing

Politico  

They know that if they don’t do something, they could end up like San Francisco and California in general, with rents and home prices that are unaffordable for many residents and intractable waves of homelessness — fueled by drug use and mental health issues in addition to lack of housing — that place a crushing burden on city services and …

New study says high housing costs, low income push Californians into homelessness
1 year, 6 months ago

New study says high housing costs, low income push Californians into homelessness

Associated Press  

SAN FRANCISCO — Homeless people in California are already a vulnerable group, often struggling with poor health, trauma and deep poverty before they lose their housing, according to a new study on adult homelessness. It it not groundbreaking news that the state’s exorbitant housing costs are a major driver behind homelessness, but researchers hope their study will strengthen public support …

Renters dominate California — but they are struggling to survive
1 year, 6 months ago

Renters dominate California — but they are struggling to survive

LA Times  

Evelyn Arceo works as a baker at Universal Studios but can only afford to live in a crowded apartment in Panorama City with her four children. “I don’t think I’ve ever been on time on my rent.” Arceo’s situation is common in California, which is among the nation’s leaders in renter-occupied housing. Hans Johnson, a demographer at the Public Policy …

Opinion: California housing and the environment are often at odds. They don’t have to be
1 year, 9 months ago

Opinion: California housing and the environment are often at odds. They don’t have to be

LA Times  

California’s housing shortage and climate crisis are often treated as if they are unrelated to each other. The housing shortage is driven in large part by local government policies that prevent new housing from being built in existing neighborhoods, forcing most development into exurban and rural areas. AB 68 would also ensure that local governments approve such housing within existing …

These California cities are booming even as L.A., San Francisco lose population
1 year, 9 months ago

These California cities are booming even as L.A., San Francisco lose population

LA Times  

Traffic flows into downtown Los Angeles on Sunday. “I haven’t found my hole-in-the-wall dive bar that I love yet.” Big coastal cities in California, led by San Francisco and Los Angeles, have seen declines in population in recent years. “The pay scale doesn’t pay enough to justify the cost of living out here,” he said, describing housing costs in California …

Opinion: California housing development remains abysmal despite reforms. Here’s what’s missing
1 year, 10 months ago

Opinion: California housing development remains abysmal despite reforms. Here’s what’s missing

LA Times  

The median Los Angeles home sold for $849,000 last year, according to the National Assn. Los Angeles and other California metropolises need abundant housing to become affordable, and they can get it only by empowering private developers to build significant projects. Accordingly, in the 1950s and ’60s, Los Angeles’ housing stock grew at a healthy rate of 2.2% a year, …

Why are some of Southern California’s most expensive properties left completely empty?
2 years ago

Why are some of Southern California’s most expensive properties left completely empty?

LA Times  

In Beverly Crest, a 157-acre property known as the “Mountain” has never been developed. In 2017, Milwaukee Brewers owner Mark Attanasio left neighbors scratching their heads when he shelled out $6.6 million for one of the last remaining vacant lots on Malibu’s Broad Beach, an ultra-exclusive stretch of sand where Pierce Brosnan, Frank Sinatra and Jack Lemmon have owned homes. …

Endorsement: California has money for homeless housing. Vote yes on Proposition LH so L.A. can use it
2 years, 3 months ago

Endorsement: California has money for homeless housing. Vote yes on Proposition LH so L.A. can use it

LA Times  

Proposition LH on the Nov. 8 Los Angeles ballot shouldn’t be necessary. But because an archaic and racist provision to block public housing remains in the California Constitution, L.A. could miss out on funding available to build homeless and affordable housing without passage of this procedural measure. Without a new authorization from Proposition LH, large swaths of the city — …

Editorial: NIMBY cities, watch out. California is cracking down on housing scofflaws
2 years, 4 months ago

Editorial: NIMBY cities, watch out. California is cracking down on housing scofflaws

LA Times  

NIMBY cities, watch out. Last week the state’s Housing and Community Development Department announced its first-ever “housing policy and practice review” to analyze why it’s so hard to build homes in San Francisco. The review will examine why San Francisco’s approval process takes so long, which projects get approved or denied and why, and what barriers are preventing the development …

California exodus continues, with L.A., San Francisco leading the way: ‘Why are we here?’
2 years, 4 months ago

California exodus continues, with L.A., San Francisco leading the way: ‘Why are we here?’

LA Times  

Visitors look toward the “Painted Ladies,” a row of historical Victorian homes, in San Francisco. California is the epicenter of where the housing shortage is so people have no choice but to move elsewhere.” While California experienced a major population boom in the late 20th century — reaching 37 million people by 2000 — it’s been losing residents since, with …

Most Californians fear not being able to pay for housing, poll finds
2 years, 9 months ago

Most Californians fear not being able to pay for housing, poll finds

LA Times  

A vacant home in El Sereno — one of many in the area owned by Caltrans — is seen in December. The survey, conducted from March 6 to March 17 by the Public Policy Institute of California, found that nearly 55% of Californians were concerned about not having enough money to pay their rents or mortgages. Residents of the Los …

Newsom’s latest housing fix: More Californians living downtown
2 years, 11 months ago

Newsom’s latest housing fix: More Californians living downtown

LA Times  

Gavin Newsom wants to shift home construction in California away from rural, wildfire-prone areas and toward urban cores as part of his $286.4-billion budget plan that aims to align the state’s housing strategy with its climate goals. The budget blueprint Newsom detailed this week includes $2 billion over two years in grants and tax credits to incentivize housing development closer …

Some California cities try to blunt new duplex law with restrictions on new developments
3 years ago

Some California cities try to blunt new duplex law with restrictions on new developments

LA Times  

With California on the verge of allowing multi-unit housing in neighborhoods previously reserved for single-family homes, some cities are rushing to pass restrictions on the new developments. Indeed, UC Berkeley researchers found that it would make financial sense for property owners of only about 5% of the state’s 7.5 million single-family lots to add more homes on their property pursuant …

Don’t be fooled: California’s new housing laws make significant changes to zoning
3 years, 3 months ago

Don’t be fooled: California’s new housing laws make significant changes to zoning

LA Times  

Construction workers finish the exterior of an apartment building in downtown Los Angeles in June. Atkins’ bill and another, SB 10 by Sen. Scott Wiener, would weaken single-family zoning — if not eliminate it — and make it easier to build multifamily dwellings. This legislation is a lot better for our climate and moves us towards the governor’s equity and …

Cheaper rent in San Francisco? For some Oakland tenants, the city across the Bay is more affordable now
3 years, 10 months ago

Cheaper rent in San Francisco? For some Oakland tenants, the city across the Bay is more affordable now

LA Times  

Even on a foggy San Francisco morning, the view from Scott Simmons’ 25th-floor apartment stretches from downtown to Golden Gate Park. It’s a luxury.” Since March, when government stay-at-home orders began emptying downtowns of workers and shoppers, the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in San Francisco has dropped nearly 30%, the largest decrease in the country. “I just don’t …

In a first for California, Sacramento poised to allow apartments in single-family home neighborhoods
3 years, 10 months ago

In a first for California, Sacramento poised to allow apartments in single-family home neighborhoods

LA Times  

A jogger passes single family homes in the Elmhurst neighborhood of Sacramento.Sacramento is on the verge of approving a plan that would make the city the first in California to end zoning that permits only one single-family home on a property. “I not only take pride in the fact that we’re leading — I insist on it.” A “Don’t Become …

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