Housing

Newsletters

Housing crisis, boycotts and Armenian Genocide

Sen. Scott Wiener's housing bill clears hurdle, California issues travel ban to South Carolina, legislator pushes state to disinvest from Turkey

By Dan Morain • April 3, 2019

Commentary

Solving California’s housing crisis demands action. These steps will help

California’s 4.2 percent unemployment rate is at a 10-year low. Wages are accelerating at their fastest pace in nearly a decade. But prospective home buyers continue to see sticker shock, with median prices still hovering in the $530,000 range. The affordability problem must be addressed and fast if California is to remain a place where middle class people can live.

By Guest Commentary • March 27, 2019

Newsletters

Spring assortment: Scooters, speech, shopping, gardens, homes, wildlife

A wet winter turns to spring, two die in e-scooter wrecks, California comes for paper receipts, a pesticide verdict, mountain lions, falcon eggs, tweets.

By Dan Morain • March 21, 2019

Housing

Huntington Beach legislator: Newsom housing lawsuit “seemed like selective prosecution”

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.

By Matt Levin • February 8, 2019

Commentary

My turn: Changing Prop. 13 could worsen housing crisis. Here’s how

Why a split roll initiative is a bad idea: Changing Proposition 13 to permit commercial property to be taxed at market value would worsen the housing crisis and destabilize government finances. Just as taxpayers make adjustments to reduce their taxes, government officials embrace projects that will increase revenue.

By Guest Commentary • January 30, 2019

Capitol

Will ‘blue wave’ Dems stave off Newsom’s housing suit against Huntington Beach?

The fact that traditionally conservative Huntington Beach now has two new Democratic legislators might enable a deal that would end the state's lawsuit to force the more housing development there.

By Matt Levin • January 28, 2019

Housing

Housing construction

Dan Dunmoyer, president and chief executive officer, California Building Industry Association A recent opinion authored by Scott Littlehale, “The missing ingredient to solve California’s housing affordability crisis,” erroneously embraces the position that California’s housing crisis is primarily due to a shortage of construction labor. Simply put, a shortage of labor isn’t the problem if new […]

By Guest Commentary • January 25, 2019

Housing

Housing crisis

Dan Dunmoyer, president and chief executive officer of the California Building Industry Association Recent opinion authored by Ashley Warner, Don’t blame environmental law for California’s housing crisis, severely over simplifies the effect of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) upon the state’s housing crisis.   Ms. Warner lays out a naively simplistic scenario that suggests […]

By Guest Commentary • January 25, 2019

Commentary

My turn: The missing ingredient to solve California’s housing affordability crisis

While the industry’s choices may well have been informed by the cost of decades of new regulatory burdens, an agenda focused exclusively on regulatory reform will only serve to compound the residential construction sector’s current labor shortage. The first step to building more housing is attracting and sustaining a labor force that knows how.

By Guest Commentary • January 24, 2019

Commentary

My turn: We must shelter the people the ‘free market’ leaves behind

It’s great that the free market works well for builders and buyers who want to make a lot of money or have a lot of it to spend. Supply and demand, however, only go so far. Housing is a basic human need that is crucial to giving children and families the ability to grow and thrive and the elderly a safe place to retire in peace.

By Guest Commentary • January 22, 2019