Ben Christopher covers housing policy for CalMatters. Ben has profiled the people who fell through the cracks of California’s rickety COVID rent relief program, demystified the perennial debate between state regulators and local governments opposed to new housing, covered innovative ideas from cities on how to tackle their local housing shortages and explained how complicated legislative proposals about zoning, bonds 和 corporate ownership of single-family homes affect everyday Californians.
His favorite reporting assignment so far: Touring the various two- and three-story structures that have sprouted up across San Diego under the regulatory guise of “accessory dwelling units” thanks to that city’s one-of-a-kind program. Prior to taking over the housing beat in the spring of 2023, Ben wrote about elections and politics for CalMatters, covering four election cycles, including the 2021 gubernatorial recall campaign. He has been known to craft the occasional politics-themed crossword puzzle.
Ben has a past life as an aspiring beancounter: He has worked as a summer associate at the Congressional Budget Office and has a Master’s in Public Policy from the University of California, Berkeley. He lives in Oakland where he enjoys riding his bike, baking (and then eating) pies and working on his repertoire of dad jokes.
As California lawmakers consider beefing up regulations for immigration detention facilities within the state, the Trump administration appears to be heading in the opposite direction.
The Trump administration’s plan to publish a weekly shame list of so-called "sanctuary" jurisdictions has been put on ice over concerns they have contained inaccurate or misleading information.
If the estate tax meets is untimely end in Washington D.C., state Sen. Scott Wiener is pushing a bill that would have California enact a state substitute—with the money going to Sacramento.
In a party-line vote, the Senate voted 27-12 on Senate Bill 54, a law that would ban state and local law enforcement agencies from using public resources to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.
The legislature’s approval Thursday of a $52 billion road repair plan couldn’t come too soon for rain-battered streets and highways that have already suffered severe damage this year. Since the beginning of the year, California’s state highway system has been buffeted with more than 400 sinkholes, downed trees, and mudslides. Caltrans puts the price tag […]
The Department of Homeland Security released its latest tally of cities, counties, and states that it considers to be sanctuary jurisdictions. California made the cut.
See correction below California’s grand plan to extend retirement security to millions of workers, a cornerstone of the economic agenda put forward by state Democrats, is looking a little bit less secure. That’s because California leaders are concerned that Republicans in the U.S. Senate will roll back a little-known Obama administration regulation, putting California’s “Secure […]
This afternoon, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed a “friend-of-the-court” brief in U.S. District Court, siding with San Francisco in its lawsuit against President Trump’s executive order to defund sanctuary cities.
Update: On Oct 5, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a scaled-down version of SB 29— placing a moratorium on local governments entering into new immigration detention contracts with federal immigration authorities or private corporations. Trash-strewn cells, moldy showers, broken telephones, excessive use of solitary confinement, and “slimy, foul-smelling lunch meat.” These are the conditions that detainees […]
Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that any states and cities receiving federal Justice Department grants will have to certify that they aren't acting as "sanctuaries" for immigrants in the country illegally.
Ben Christopher covers housing policy for CalMatters.
加州事务
加利福尼亚州，解释
本·克里斯托弗
Ben Christopher covers housing policy for CalMatters. His favorite reporting assignment so far: Touring the various two- and three-story structures that have sprouted up across San Diego under the regulatory guise of “accessory dwelling units” thanks to that city’s one-of-a-kind program. Prior to taking over the housing beat in the spring of 2023, Ben wrote about elections and politics for CalMatters, covering four election cycles, including the 2021 gubernatorial recall campaign. Ben has a past life as an aspiring beancounter: He has worked as a summer associate at the Congressional Budget Office and has a Master’s in Public Policy from the University of California, Berkeley. He lives in Oakland where he enjoys riding his bike, baking (and then eating) pies and working on his repertoire of dad jokes.
