Gimme Shelter

The head of the chief developers' group is increasingly pessimistic that they can cut a deal with unions to kickstart home building in California—although both sides are still talking.

On this emergency episode of "Gimme Shelter: The California Housing Crisis Podcast," CALmatters'  Matt Levin and the Los Angeles Times' Liam Dillon discuss why SB 50 failed, and what it means for other housing legislation going forward this year.

Michael Weinstein, rent-control advocate and president of the Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation, had a rough time in Sacramento last week.

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.

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.

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.

A conservative Huntington Beach legislator called a state lawsuit aimed at compelling the Orange County city to build more housing a "literal cannonball" from Gov. Gavin Newsom and said it "seemed like selective prosecution" when dozens of other California cities could be blamed for not doing their fair share to alleviate California's housing shortage.

Gov. Gavin Newsom's housing budget tries to do a lot—including building way more housing for California's middle class.

There was so much housing news in Gov. Gavin Newsom's first budget proposal that Matt and Liam couldn't wait a week to talk about it. We don't get to everything Newsom wants to do, but we analyze some of the bigger developments.