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Matt Levin

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Matt Levin was the data and housing dude for CalMatters. His work entails distilling complex policy topics into easily digestible charts and graphs, finding and writing original stories from data, yelling at his computer for something he did wrong in his code, and complaining about his rent on "Gimme Shelter", the housing podcast he co-hosts. Matt's award-winning housing and data reporting has been featured on Marketplace, NPR's Here & Now, and the San Francisco Chronicle. Matt is a former research associate for the Public Policy Institute of California, where he specialized in quantitative analysis of poverty and social policy. He has a Master’s in Public Policy from UCLA and an MS in Journalism from USC, but he'll always consider himself a Cal bear.

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Latest Stories

Housing
Gimme Shelter Podcast: The construction labor shortage
Please subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Soundcloud, Google Play and Overcast. Matt and Liam delve into one aspect of California’s housing crisis that doesn’t receive much attention: the shortage of construction labor to build the houses the state so desperately needs. An Avocado of the Fortnight (2:15) first takes us to Orange County, where the question of […]
By • April 5, 2018
Housing
Gimme Shelter Podcast: Gentrification and SB 827
Please subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Soundcloud, Google Play and Overcast. The hottest piece of housing legislation in the country is not being received well by many low-income communities of color. Matt and Liam explore the politics and policy of SB 827, a bill that would radically upzone a good swatch of California cities, this time from […]
By • March 23, 2018
Housing
Gimme Shelter Podcast: The new homelessness, from San Diego to the Bay
Please subscribe to us on iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, Google Play and Overcast. Matt and Liam set up a “meet the podcast guys” booth at the Housing California conference, the state’s largest annual gathering of affordable housing advocates. They award an Avocado of the Fortnight to two leading gubernatorial candidates for evading some basic questions on their housing plans (2:00). Then […]
By • March 8, 2018
Housing
Gimme Shelter Podcast: Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg
Please subscribe to us on iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, Google Play and Overcast. State legislators are trying to revive redevelopment, the controversial “urban renewal” program that provided a major source of affordable housing funding before its elimination seven years ago. Matt and Liam explore how redevelopment worked and didn’t work, and what redevelopment 2.0 might look like. First, an Avocado of […]
By • February 22, 2018
Housing
Gimme Shelter Podcast: Enviros and housing, a complicated love affair
Please subscribe to us on iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, Google Play and Overcast. If California is going to meet its ambitious climate change goals, it will have to solve its housing crisis. In the wake of the California Sierra Club’s opposition to SB 827, Matt and Liam devote the hour to the intersection of environmental and housing issues. First, an Avocado […]
By • February 1, 2018
Housing
Gimme Shelter Podcast: Why rent control died in the Capitol, with Assemblyman David Chiu
 Please subscribe to us on iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, Google Play and Overcast. Expanded rent control won’t be coming to your city anytime soon—at least not via the state Legislature. Matt and Liam discuss why the repeal of Costa-Hawkins died at a dramatic Assembly hearing last week. First, Liam flags some other major housing bills you should keep an eye […]
By • January 17, 2018

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