Mar 27, 2025 | Legislation, Bills, Housing
In a unified effort to tackle California’s housing crisis, a bipartisan and bicameral group of legislators today unveiled the Fast Track Housing package — a suite of more than 20 bills aimed at making housing more affordable by slashing red tape, removing uncertainty, and drastically diminishing the time it takes to get new housing approved and built. This package builds off the recommendations in the Final Report of the Select Committee on Permitting Reform, chaired by Asm. Wicks.
Mar 26, 2025 | Bills, Housing, Legislation
BY BEN CHRISTOPHER
MARCH 26, 2025
In the recurring legislative fight between YIMBY legislators and defenders of California’s signature environmental law, one bill could be a final legislative showdown.
For years California has been stuck in a recurring fight between legislators who want the state to turbocharge new home construction and legislators determined to defend a landmark environmental protection law.
The final showdown in that long-standing battle may have just arrived.
Mar 24, 2025 | Housing, Legislation, Politics
By Soumya Karlamangla, THE NEW YORK TIMES
March 24, 2025
In a hotel meeting room two blocks from the beach, the California Coastal Commission might as well have written “SOS” in the sand.
“We are under complete assault,” said Susan Lowenberg, a member of the coast preservation commission, which was born in the 1970s from the same movement that gave rise to Earth Day and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. “We need help.”
Mar 24, 2025 | Legislation, Housing
By AMOS KLAUSNER
March 24, 2025
Make no mistake, Marin County is undergoing radical change that will destroy many of the things we appreciate most about our communities.
I blame political know-it-alls in Sacramento, who are making it easier for developers to build oversized, out-of-character housing projects across our small cities and even smaller towns. This new class of unregulated development eschews local norms and local control, clashing with the culture that attracted us to the county in the first place.
Mar 24, 2025 | Housing
BY LANCE LAMBERT
March 24, 2025
Lennar—the nation’s second-largest homebuilder—told investors on Friday that their spring selling season is off to a soft start. “We do not see the seasonal pickup typically associated with the beginning of the spring selling season. So we continue to lean into our machine focusing on converting leads and appointments and adjusting incentives as needed to maintain sales pace. These adjustments came in the form of mortgage rate buydowns, price reductions, and closing cost assistance.”
Mar 19, 2025 | Opinion, Housing
Posted by: Bob Silvestri
March 19, 2025
The term “efficiency” is in the news these days. However, contrary to the nonsense being peddled by the DOGE crowd, achieving increases in “efficiency,” which is fundamental to increased “productivity” and “wealth creation,” is about much more than randomly firing people to cut costs. If cost-cutting is not done in concert with even greater capital investment in people and technology, the net result is the degradation of operations and a sure path to bankruptcy.
