Housing

The California Chamber of Commerce has its annual “job killer” list, with a track record of spiking bills that is the envy of other industry groups. By its count, only 58 of the 824 bills labeled “job killers” between 1997 and 2022 made it into law without at least significant changes it wanted. Similarly, California […]

Many local governments have more than half their voters approve a bond measure… but fewer than the two-thirds supermajority required. An effort to change that would drastically alter the ability of local governments to fund housing and infrastructure projects.

As California's war over land use authority rages on, critics of the state's housing quotas are turning to voters and lower population projections to undercut them.

Three of the biggest housing bonds in state history are bound for the 2024 ballot. But with no shortage of crises facing the state, California can only borrow so much and voters may succumb to “bond fatigue.”

From CalMatters’ state Capitol reporter Alexei Koseff: Californians have a legal right to “information concerning the conduct of the people’s business,” but actually getting those public records is easier said than done. In the past few months alone, a former employee of the San Jose mayor’s office sued the city for “perpetually extending its own […]

During the 2022 campaign, CalMatters state Capitol reporter Sameea Kamal wrote about how the state Republican Party — struggling to win statewide office in deep-blue California — decided to focus on local school boards with its “Parent Revolt” program.  The GOP’s goal: To capitalize on parents’ anger over COVID-19 shutdowns and concerns about “critical race […]

The lack of enough places for everyone to live has sent coastal rent prices inland, removing large swaths of previously cheaper rental units.

Los Angeles’ new homelessness solution is meant to quickly get people out of encampments and into housing – as the city grapples with the state’s largest population of unhoused residents. But the program is struggling to house people and connect them with social services.

It’s another make-or-break week at the Legislature before its month-long summer recess. By Friday, bills that have already passed either the Assembly or Senate must get through policy committees in the other chamber to stay alive this session. Most measures have, but there are some that are still in jeopardy as committees busily go through […]

The California Coastal Commission has broad authority to protect the state's shoreline. Now, some want to curtail its power over affordable housing proposals.