Matt Levin

Housing

Gimme Shelter podcast: The rent control war

Please subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Soundcloud, Google Play and Overcast. One housing issue will overshadow all others this election: Rent control. Matt and Liam discuss why renewed negotiations to remove a controversial rent control initiative from the ballot went nowhere, and what the campaigns will look like this fall. First, Matt proposes a solution to the Los […]

By Matt Levin • June 29, 2018

Housing

One symptom of California’s housing crisis? State agency says someone making $200K deserves house-buying help.

When the California Housing Finance Agency was created in 1975 in Governor Jerry Brown’s first term, the mission was simple: help low- and moderate-income families buy their first home. More than 40 years later, amid skyrocketing housing prices and near-record low homeownership rates, that goal is getting harder and harder to attain. So much so […]

By Matt Levin • June 14, 2018

Housing

Gimme Shelter podcast: What the primary means for housing

A grab bag of topics on this pod. First, the Avocado of the Fortnight asks what would Yeezus do about California’s housing crisis (2:00)? Then, a discussion about what the primary results mean for housing, up and down the ballot (4:00). Next a recap of what important housing bills survived major legislative deadlines. Then finally […]

By Matt Levin • June 8, 2018

Elections

Map: How we voted on housing issues, up and down the state

Teacher housing, new use for a race track, what to do for seniors—voters spoke on these issues and more. Here's what they said.

By Matt Levin • June 7, 2018

Elections

High Rollers—A closer look at some of the sources underwriting California’s costly campaign season

With California’s primary just days away, here’s a sampling of some of the players spending big to influence your vote.

By Matt Levin and Laurel Rosenhall • June 1, 2018

Housing

Gimme Shelter podcast: Evictions and tenants’ rights

Please subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Soundcloud, Google Play and Overcast. Matt and Liam discuss a handful of tenants’ rights bills with uncertain futures currently making their way through the Legislature. First, an Avocado of the Fortnight asks what historians will make of a Los Angeles-area gas station decades from now (2:30). The Number of the Fortnight introduces […]

By Matt Levin • May 24, 2018

Housing

What a $500,000 home looks like around California–and how it shapes where we move

The median price of a California single family home is now well over half a million dollars. That’s more than double what the average house costs in the rest of the U.S. Put a more nauseating way, you could buy two “average” non-California houses for the price of one California house. Can’t decide between the […]

By Matt Levin • May 17, 2018

Housing

Gimme Shelter podcast: Housing in the governor’s race

Housing has become a major issue in California’s race for governor. With the June primary less than a month away, Matt and Liam dive into each of the candidate’s plans to solve our affordability crisis. First, the Avocado of the Fortnight takes Matt to an extremely hot property in San Jose (2:50). Then a discussion […]

By Matt Levin • May 10, 2018

Housing

Gimme Shelter Podcast: The SB 827 Post-Mortem

Please subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Soundcloud, Google Play and Overcast. The most controversial and highly publicized state housing bill in recent memory has died. In an emergency version of the pod, Matt and Liam walk you through the reasons SB 827 failed to get through its first committee hearing, and where legislation like it could go […]

By Matt Levin • April 19, 2018

Housing

The state’s most controversial housing bill in years just died. Here’s what to take away from that.

The most controversial state housing bill in recent memory died with a pretty resounding thud—with YIMBYs seeing the defeat as yet another roadblock to building the new housing the state so desperately needs.

By Matt Levin • April 17, 2018

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