Latest News
NOTE: The opinions expressed in the news items cited here do not necessarily represent the opinion of Catalysts for Local Control. We try to present a balanced picture of the news on the subject of housing and legislation.
Wiener’s Controversial Bill to Allow Housing Near Transit Is Back
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.
This wealthy California city just flirted with bankruptcy to avoid new housing
By Emily Hoeven
March 6, 2025
A new Rorschach test for NIMBY California cities and counties has been unlocked: How big of a hole are you willing to blow in your budget to block new housing?
This question confronted La Cañada Flintridge last week when a judge issued the wealthy Los Angeles County community a stark ultimatum: It could stop fighting a proposal for an 80-unit mixed-income development with hotel and office space, or it could post a $14 million bond and continue its yearslong legal battle.
Too damn hard to build’: An East Bay Democrat’s push for speedier construction
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.
SHIFT-Bay Area’s Tom Rubin Wins Statewide Award
SHIFT Bay Area
March 4, 2025
Our very own Tom Rubin was selected by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association to be their 2024 “Taxfighter of the Year”. As we detailed in our very first substack post, Tom uncovered the math error that helped sink Regional Measure 4, an astonishingly badly designed proposal that would have cost you $21,000 over 53 years for every million dollars of property you own.
Letters: Zoning laws aren’t blocking new housing in California. Here’s what is
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.
California Democrats vowed to tackle affordability — but the agenda isn’t yet clear
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.
Now that Trump is cutting housing money, what will Sacramento do about mandates?
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.
State Farm reports staggering insurance losses from Los Angeles wildfires
By Megan Fan Munce
Feb 25, 2025
State Farm General, California’s largest home insurer by far, estimates it will pay $7.6 billion to survivors of the Los Angeles wildfires. The staggering figure is the highest loss estimate of any insurer so far, which makes sense due to the size of the company and its exposure: A Chronicle analysis of policy data found that State Farm insured more households in and around the fire perimeters than any other company. It’s already paid $1.75 billion to policyholders.
Palo Alto Town Hall
Saturday, March 1, 2025 1PM to 4PM Mitchell Park Community Cntr, 3700 Middlefield Rd, Palo Alto CA Fire hazard and growth-driven safety problems in Palo Alto, the Bay Area, and beyond. A Town Hall about safety issues that could directly impact you. Issues made worse...