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.
Cities sue Colorado over housing reform laws
By Danielle McLean
May 27, 2025
Six cities outside Denver sued the state of Colorado to block a pair of laws forcing communities to reform local land-use restrictions to allow for more housing construction, claiming the legislation violates their home rule rights.
The lawsuit follows a May 16 executive order signed by Colorado Gov. Jared Polis that ties distribution of more than $100 million in state funding for cities and towns to whether they complied with laws passed during the 2024 and 2025 legislative sessions to address the statewide housing shortage.
They drove for hours to speak in the Capitol. California lawmakers cut them off
BY RYAN SABALOW AND HANS POSCHMAN
MAY 19, 2025
As lawmakers rush through thousands of bills in Sacramento and make decisions in secret, regular Californians are often silenced. Landon Morrison, a recovering addict, wanted to tell lawmakers why they should support legislation he believes will hold troubled drug and alcohol treatment centers accountable. But after getting on the road at 4 a.m. for the six-hour drive to Sacramento from Los Angeles County, he didn’t get to say a single word because previous speakers talked too long.
Why more construction didn’t fix California’s high housing costs
By JONATHAN LANSNER
May 19, 2025
Build it – and they will fall.
We’re often told that California housing costs will dip if more residences are constructed. My trusty spreadsheet’s peek into real estate and demographic patterns, however, questions the wisdom behind construction as a significant housing-cost containment measure.
The recent construction pace should have helped house hunters and apartment seekers. Yet, cost relief was almost nonexistent despite fewer Californians competing for residences.
Housing project OK’d despite resistance
BY J.K. DINEEN
May 17, 2025
The site of a Mission District fire that killed a resident and displaced dozens of low-income tenants and small businesses a decade ago is set to become a 181-unit apartment building despite community
efforts to derail the project. In a 4-3 vote, the San Francisco Planning Commission approved the 10-story apartment complex at 2588 Mission St., a project opponents called “La Muerte de la Misíon,” referring to the 2015 fire that
killed the tenant, injured six others and displaced 60 tenants and 26
businesses.
This rich beachfront city is trying to launch an anti-housing insurgency in California
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.
Gavin Newsom lays down the law on housing construction
By Jeremy B. White
May 15, 2025
In the space of two minutes, Gov. Gavin Newsom reordered a political standoff over California’s housing crisis. The governor on Wednesday threw his weight behind a push to turbocharge housing construction statewide by slashing local restrictions and environmental reviews. With divisions among legislative Democrats imperiling a package of bills, Newsom announced during a news conference that he would instead advance those policy changes through the budget, over which he has considerably more leverage.
Mark Zuckerberg’s philanthropy quietly cuts funding for affordable housing, homelessness groups
By KATE TALERICO
May 2, 2025
In April 2024, Priscilla Chan sat on a stage during the five-year anniversary celebration for a housing initiative that she and husband Mark Zuckerberg’s philanthropy had seeded with a $50 million commitment. A year later, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative has made a sharp reversal on its commitment to housing. CZI is quietly ending funding for a number of California housing organizations, telling many of the advocacy groups that it will not renew their grants going forward.
When California politicians ignore policy risks, failure and scandal often result
Dan Walters
May 1, 2025
California’s governors and legislators have a very bad habit of enacting major programs and projects without fully exploring their downside risks. The most spectacular example occurred in 1996, when a Republican governor, Pete Wilson, and a Democrat-controlled Legislature decided to overhaul California’s electric power industry.The legislation was hammered out in lengthy and secret negotiations. It was enacted with only cursory public input.
Unprecedented vote shows Dems fractured over housing policy
BY BEN CHRISTOPHER
APRIL 30, 2025
Two consecutive committee chairs getting overruled by their committee members signifies a growing rift among California Democrats about how to address the housing crisis. One of the most controversial housing bills of the year has lived to be voted upon another day, but only by surviving the Legislative equivalent of two back-to-back prison breaks.