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 14, 2025 | Bills, Housing, Legislation
Erin Baldassari
Mar 14
State Sen. Scott Wiener is back with another bill to allow medium-rise apartment buildings near transit across California — his fourth attempt in seven years.
SB 79 by state Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) would allow apartments up to seven stories tall within a quarter-mile of certain train stations. Allowable building heights would decrease farther from the train station or bus rapid transit stop, dropping to as low as four stories within a half-mile.
Mar 5, 2025 | Legislation, Housing
By Ben Christopher | CalMatters
March 5, 2025
A California legislator wants to solve the state’s housing crisis, juice its economy, fight climate change and save the Democratic Party with one “excruciatingly non-sexy” idea.
Oakland Democratic Assembly member Buffy Wicks sees the slow, occasionally redundant, often litigious process of getting construction projects okayed by federal, state and local governments as a chief roadblock to fixing California’s most pressing problems, from housing to water to public transportation to climate change.
Feb 28, 2025 | Housing, Legislation, Opinion
Eric Filseth
February 28, 2025
The coterie of housing pundits is addicted to the politically convenient but false narrative that zoning is the broad obstacle, when research shows that the true limitation has long been the rapidly escalating construction, materials and engineering costs that dominate dense housing projects in high-demand, high-inequality cities.
Feb 27, 2025 | Legislation
BY RYAN SABALOW AND SAMEEA KAMAL FEBRUARY 27, 2025
California Democrats pledged to tackle affordability in 2025, but their plans to address Trump cuts, housing costs, energy, insurance, grocery bills and inflation remain unclear.
Feb 26, 2025 | Housing, Legislation
By TIM REDMOND
FEBRUARY 26, 2025
Thanks to state Sen. Scott Wiener and his Yimby allies, San Francisco is under a mandate not just to zone for and approve but to issue permits for 82,000 new housing units in the next six year. The market-rate housing never going to happen, and not because of neighborhood opposition; private developers aren’t building because the projects don’t work at current interest rates and rents.
