Inequality Insights

Good morning, Inequality Insights readers. I’m Wendy Fry. California’s inland regions are experiencing dangerous heat waves, exacerbated by rapid population growth. As more people move away from the expensive coastal areas to more affordable inland communities, these regions are seeing significant demographic changes and spiking electricity bills. CalMatters reporters Alejandra Reyes-Velarde and Arfa Momin covered […]

Good morning, Inequality Insights readers. I’m Wendy Fry. Last year, our California Divide reporting team covered how cities were responding to migrants arriving unexpectedly. While many of the 900-plus migrants who arrived in L.A. from Republican states quickly integrated into the community, the few dozen who went to Sacramento found an under-resourced support system, CalMatters […]

Good morning, Inequality Insights readers. I’m Felicia Mello. Evelyn and Israel Avalos have shared the same studio apartment in San Rafael’s crowded Canal neighborhood for 18 years. Over their time living in one of California’s wealthiest counties, they’ve become familiar with the picturesque, mansion-studded enclaves surrounding them – places like Tiburon, Sausalito and San Anselmo. […]

Dear Inequality Insights readers, San Diego port officials hired a contractor to clear out a waterfront homeless encampment last week where about a dozen asylum seekers were living. For months, asylum seekers had been camping in the César Chávez Park in Barrio Logan, but the port’s Harbor Police told them they had to leave or […]

Happy Friday, Inequality Insights readers, thanks for reading. In case you missed it, California Divide’s Felicia Mello wrote earlier this month about California community land trusts. These organizations buy land and then sell or rent the buildings on it to low-income residents. According to the California Community Land Trust Network, their numbers have tripled in […]

Dear Inequality Insights reader, About 10 years ago, the California Public Utilities Commission decided they should stop requesting Social Security numbers from low-income residents applying to obtain subsidized cellphone service. Then, the commission never actually stopped requesting the information.  CalMatters Reporter Alejandra Reyes-Velarde reported in February that the cellphone program, California LifeLine, still excludes hundreds […]

Dear Inequality Insights reader, If state legislators don’t act fast, a program that protects children who immigrate to California by themselves will soon run out of funds. Without an attorney to represent them in immigration court, the vast majority of children are ordered removed. One minor helped by the project told us he was unable […]

One dollar a day. That’s how much immigrant detainees in GEO Group-run ICE facilities in Kern County earn scrubbing bathrooms and cutting hair, reports CalMatters’ Jeanne Kuang. Detainees at the Mesa Verde and Golden State Annex ICE facilities told Kuang they started their second labor and hunger strike in two years to protest poor working […]

Hi, good morning, Inequality Insights readers; it’s Wendy Fry. About 5.6 million people – or one out of every three California workers – are paid a low wage, according to the UC Berkeley Labor Center’s newly updated Low Wage Work Data Explorer. Low-wage work is defined by the Berkeley researchers as jobs that pay less […]

Good morning, Inequality Insights readers. Today, it’s Wendy Fry here with Felicia Mello to talk to you about our latest investigation into how California state housing inspectors have struggled to make sure farms are providing guest workers with safe and adequate housing. We’d noticed that the number of workers on H2A visas — a federal […]