Accumulated dirt at the Urban Town House Project in Long Beach, on July 22, 2021. The affordable housing project will be for low-income families. Photo by Pablo Unzueta for CalMatters
Accumulated dirt at the Urban Town House Project in Long Beach, on July 22, 2021. The affordable housing project will be for low-income families. Photo by Pablo Unzueta for CalMatters

Housing is one of California’s most complex and persistent problems, and the pandemic has only made it worse. CalMatters’ housing reporter and “Gimme Shelter” podcast host, Manuela Tobias joins the podcast to talk about the complicated and often conflicting political interests between legislators, regardless of their party lines, and key powerful interest groups: realtors, developers, landlords, tenants, big tech, environmental groups, and labor groups.

“That is a key fight — where lawmakers don’t want [construction and building] workers to suffer, and they want workers to make a good living wage, but they also want housing to be built so that low-income Californians can afford housing,” Tobias said. “It’s those very progressive goals creating this tension that makes it so difficult to get bills passed.

”Listen to the “California State of Mind” episode, co-hosted by Nigel Duara and Nicole Nixon, on Apple podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to your podcasts. Follow @yourgoldenstate, @CalMatters and @CapRadioNews on Twitter to engage with our show every week and see the top California news of the day.

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