Housing

Aside from giving housing and homelessness its own box atop Gov. Gavin Newsom’s organizational chart, the reorg is supposed to simplify the state’s snarled affordable housing financing system.

Housing bills in California often face fierce opposition from construction unions. The carpenters’ union went their own way, becoming a “game-changing” force in the debate.

In a legislative battle a decade in the making, lawmakers just exempted infill urban development from the California Environmental Quality Act. That’s a big deal.

A state budget is headed to Gov. Gavin Newsom for his signature, but it won’t take effect unless the Legislature makes changes to housing and infrastructure development rules that he has demanded.

In Los Angeles, Sacramento and San Diego, homeless Californians describe their experiences over the past year as camping ban enforcement has increased.

In major cities and more rural areas, arrests and citations rose in the months following last summer’s Supreme Court decision. In some places, officials insist the events are unrelated.

Lawmakers are weighing a provision that would allow developers to pay a lower wage for some construction projects, theoretically stimulating housing production in California. Unions and environmental groups are opposed.

California’s main source of homelessness funding would drop from $1 billion last year to $0 this year in the proposed state budget.

The largest source of federal homelessness grant dollars now includes restrictions on promoting DEI language and concerns.

It can take a long time to build anything in California. The governor's office is trying to move fast on mental health projects funded by a new bond.