In summary

On this episode of “Gimme Shelter: The California Housing Crisis Podcast,” CalMatters’ Manuela Tobias and the Los Angeles Times’ Liam Dillon sit down with Ellen Hanak, director of the Public Policy Institute of California’s Water Policy Center, to discuss the intersection between housing growth and drought.

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As state officials and experts continue to push for more housing to address the state’s worsening affordability crisis, people often bring up another issue gripping California: drought.

How is it that California Gov. Gavin Newsom can call for the creation of millions of new housing units while demanding that people cut back on long showers and watering their lawns? 

In fact, new research shows there’s plenty of water to accommodate the growing population as long as the decades-long trend of diminishing water use per capita continues. To explain the disconnect, CalMatters’ Manuela Tobias and the Los Angeles Times’ Liam Dillon sit down with Ellen Hanak, director of the Public Policy Institute of California’s Water Policy Center.

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Podcast editing by Victor Figueroa. https://www.linkedin.com/in/vicfig

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Manuela is our former Housing Reporter whose stories focused on the political dynamics and economic and racial inequities that contribute to the housing crisis in California and its potential solutions....