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.
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.
Why California’s plan to harden homes against wildfires is broken
By Kristian Fors
Feb 22, 2025
The horrific wildfires that devastated the Los Angeles area — and necessitated a $1 billion bailout of the FAIR Plan, California’s insurer of last resort — have many people asking why so few homeowners harden their homes against wildfires. Home hardening is how homeowners reduce their wildfire risk by retrofitting their homes with fire-resistant materials and removing excess vegetation. A report by Guidewire found that home hardening consistently reduced wildfire risk, in terms of likelihood and damage severity.
Seven Sacramento families built their first homes and then purchased them. Here’s how
By Mathew Miranda
February 22, 2025 3:04 PM
Peace of mind. Those are the words Amadullah Safi used to describe what it meant to be a first-time homeowner in Sacramento’s Oak Park neighborhood. Safi, 40, no longer had to navigate an “insane” housing market. His three children each had their own room. And most importantly, the family finally had a home to call its own. “A place where we can build memories,” Safi told more than 100 people Saturday morning in an event held by the Habitat for Humanity of Greater Sacramento.
This California law was supposed to end single-family zoning. Three years later, it’s ‘just symbolic’
By Christian Leonard
Feb 21, 2025
When it went into effect in 2022, Senate Bill 9 was hailed as one of the biggest — and most controversial — housing laws in years. Observers called it the end of single-family zoning in California, with the law essentially legalizing duplexes in large swaths of the state’s suburbs. Combined with its lot split provision, SB9 let homeowners turn one home into as many as four. But three years later, California’s suburbs largely look the same as they did before SB9 — prompting legislators, including state Sen. Scott Wiener, to take a swing at tweaking it.
Caruso nonprofit to provide free prefab homes in LA County
TRD Staff
February 20, 2025
A foundation set up by billionaire developer Rick Caruso has planted a stake to rebuild single family homes within Los Angeles burn zones, rather than change the housing makeup by erecting apartments. Steadfast LA, the nonprofit founded by the former mayoral candidate to help rebuild burned areas in L.A. County, has partnered with a prefab homebuilding firm to provide new houses for low income homeowners in Altadena and the Pacific Palisades, City News Service reported.