Jul 30, 2025 | Housing, Opinion
By Ann Duwe
July 30, 2025
SB 79 is among more than 200 housing bills aimed at remaking California in the image of Manhattan. Grossly mislabeled as the “Abundant & Affordable Homes Near Transit Act,” the bill increases housing density near dedicated bus, train and ferry stops by reaching deep into the neighborhoods around those stops and permitting, by right, five to seven story rental apartment buildings. The bill does little to make this new housing affordable and wreaks havoc with the planning effort made by cities with compliant Housing Elements.
Jul 25, 2025 | Housing, Opinion
By Gaeton Lion
July 25, 2025
Everyone believes California does have a housing supply shortage because of its staggering home prices. But, it does not. Its home prices respond to qualitative factors independent of housing supply.
Jun 28, 2025 | Housing, Opinion
By Emily Hoeven, Columnist
June 28, 2025
Most Californians are intimately familiar with stories of cities going to comically absurd lengths to block new housing.
Sausalito tried to argue it could build affordable units on underwater eelgrass. La Cañada Flintridge in Los Angeles County flirted with bankruptcy to fight its first multifamily development in more than a decade. And Woodside attempted to declare itself a mountain lion sanctuary to avoid duplexes. But the affluent city of Menlo Park is bucking the trend. At least it’s trying to.
Jun 2, 2025 | Housing, Opinion
By MICHAEL BARNES
JUNE 2, 2025
On May 1, the California Department of Finance Demographics Unit issued its annual press release on population and housing estimates for the state. Unlike other housing reports, DOF measures net housing production, not building permits. It’s a different perspective on housing. With additional help from recent information on San Francisco, I want to propose two questions:
May 17, 2025 | Housing, Opinion
By Sara Libby, Guest Columnist
May 17, 2025
City leaders in Encinitas recently voted to support an effort to return control over zoning decisions to local governments.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom stays famously tight-lipped about bills making their way through the state Legislature. So it was a surprise this week when he not only endorsed two bills to slash local restrictions that can hold up housing construction — he said he would leapfrog lawmakers altogether and implement them through the budget.
Apr 22, 2025 | Housing, Legislation, Opinion
By Ann Duwe
Apr 22, 2025
When Governor Gavin Newsom declared he wanted 2.5 million new housing units in California, he failed to see how his “aspirational goal” would transform the Golden State into a matrix for high-rise, rental development. Newsom’s number became the basis for the 6th-cycle RHNA (Regional Housing Needs Allocation) numbers, the outsized housing demands now at the heart of every city’s housing element.
