Housing

A controversial bill that would force California cities to allow denser housing around public transit cleared a major hurdle, but only after its sponsor agreed to go easier on smaller-sized counties.

Please subscribe to the Gimme Shelter podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Soundcloud, Google Play, Spotify or Overcast.  Ready for another fight over rent control? Six months after a statewide initiative that could have expanded rent control across California was rejected overwhelmingly at the polls, a group of progressive state lawmakers are back with a suite of pro-tenant legislation […]

California lawmakers have pitched dozens of bold, high-profile solutions to California's affordable housing shortage. But for all the big-picture housing legislation that has actually become law over the past few years, so far the solution that's proved most immediately effective at providing new housing has been rather small in size: Accessory Dwelling Units, colloquially known as in-law units or granny flats.

Former U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez loaned state Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk-Silva $430,000 to buy a house in Orange County—an arrangement that some legal experts labeled unusual, but that both politicians said was not improper and resulted from their friendship.

David Swerdlin, San Juan Capistrano The best incentive to find solutions to the homeless situation is as follows: That each politician’s family residence house no fewer than three families; the governor house five; politicians in Sacramento, San Francisco and Los Angeles, and federal elected officials, house four. When viable solutions are implemented, we will move onto finding […]

San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer has a message for his fellow California Republicans when it comes to grappling with the state's housing crisis: Embrace more development.

Most shelters for people experiencing homelessness still don’t accept pets. But a bill under consideration in the California Legislature aims to make the practice more common—creating $5 million in grants to reward shelters that welcome people and their pets.

Legislators who have backed rent control expansions in the past say they’re working on proposals to help tenants stay in their homes. One possible compromise: A bill to ban “rent gouging,” similar to one poised to take effect in Oregon.

A new, highly publicized study from a doctoral student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology casts doubt on whether "upzoning" actually results in more construction and lower housing prices.

As inequality increases and encampments sprout in virtually every city statewide, some Californians are taking it upon themselves to address the pressing needs of homeless people in their neighborhoods—doing the work they think government should be doing, but isn’t.