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.
Housing markets in Florida and Texas are so weak that builder Lennar spent the most on buyer incentives since 2009
BY LANCE LAMBERT
March 24, 2025
Lennar—the nation’s second-largest homebuilder—told investors on Friday that their spring selling season is off to a soft start. “We do not see the seasonal pickup typically associated with the beginning of the spring selling season. So we continue to lean into our machine focusing on converting leads and appointments and adjusting incentives as needed to maintain sales pace. These adjustments came in the form of mortgage rate buydowns, price reductions, and closing cost assistance.”
Paradigm Shift – Part IX: Gen-AI and Factory Built Affordable Housing
Posted by: Bob Silvestri
March 19, 2025
The term “efficiency” is in the news these days. However, contrary to the nonsense being peddled by the DOGE crowd, achieving increases in “efficiency,” which is fundamental to increased “productivity” and “wealth creation,” is about much more than randomly firing people to cut costs. If cost-cutting is not done in concert with even greater capital investment in people and technology, the net result is the degradation of operations and a sure path to bankruptcy.
School districts don’t need risky cost ventures
Susan Kirsch
March 19, 2025
Recent news about a proposal to have school districts and the county be on the hook to “pay up” if not enough educators and county employees rent in an affordable workforce housing apartment complex is causing a stir on the IJ Opinion page.
Lawmakers Urged Against Bill to Undermine California Environmental Quality Act
March 18, 2025
SACRAMENTO, Calif.— Nearly 50 community and conservation organizations are warning California lawmakers about a dangerous bill that would severely weaken a landmark environmental law that has helped protect the state’s natural resources, public health and biodiversity since 1970. In a letter sent today, the groups urged legislators to oppose Senate Bill 607, which would make it easier for developers to avoid or narrow environmental review for a host of projects. That could include shipping terminals, mining operations, commercial development, sewage plants, dams and other projects planned in wildfire zones and wildlife habitat.
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.