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.
Demand fades for luxury condos in San Francisco
By TRD Staff
OCT 11, 2023, 11:30 AM
The market for luxury condominiums in San Francisco has fallen into the doldrums as demand fades during an oversupply from hundreds of luxury condos flooding the city in the last five years. Fewer of the city’s new fancy condos in Downtown, where more than a third of the offices stand empty, find takers. The sluggish sales may be blamed on higher interest rates, which have forced local and foreign buyers to hit pause on purchases.
Where are California’s most affordable homes?
Butte County is best. Santa Cruz is worst.
By JONATHAN LANSNER
October 11, 2023
”Survey says” looks at various rankings and scorecards judging geographic locations while noting these grades are best seen as a mix of artful interpretation and data. If you want a quasi-affordable California home, look far from the coast and the big cities. My trusty spreadsheet reviewed third-quarter homebuying affordability stats for 578 big US counties – including 35 California counties.
Marin City residents file federal suit over housing project
By RICHARD HALSTEAD | rhalstead@marinij.com
October 9, 2023 | UPDATED: October 10, 2023 at 5:10 a.m.
A controversial apartment project in Marin City is facing another legal challenge. The Golden Gate Village Resident Council has filed a federal lawsuit asserting that the county, in reviewing the project at 825 Drake Ave., failed to adequately comply with the National Environmental Policy Act. The law defines procedures for environmental analysis for projects that need approval by federal agencies.
Billionaires file legal brief attacking the unhoused in SF
By TIM REDMOND
OCTOBER 8, 2023
While city fails to train staff on sweeps, the people who created this crisis are asking the Supreme Court to blame the victims. San Francisco hasn’t taken any serious steps to train its workforce on the current legal rules for addressing homeless camps, a new filing by the Coalition on Homelessness says. The Oct. 6 filing is the latest in a lawsuit that has been going on for years and has led to an injunction against the city banning most sweeps—an injunction the city continues to defy.
Save Dominican Valley explains the “Builder’s Remedy”
By Bob Silvestri
The Marin Post
In June of 2023, Dominican Valley LLC submitted five SB 330 Preliminary Application proposals to develop on the 20-acres (approx.) parcel in San Rafael. The developer claimed eligibility for what is known as the “Builder’s Remedy” for 4 of the 5 proposals.
In my opinion, that claim is completely without merit.
Oceanside council letter objects to state housing laws
by Samantha Nelson
October 3, 2023
The letter, addressed to Gov. Gavin Newsom, states the council members “vehemently object to the litany of legislation passed by the legislature and signed into law by the Governor that removes control away from local jurisdictions and places land-use decisions solely in the hands of the super-majority in Sacramento.”
Marin housing forum previews massive bond measure
By Richard Halstead
Marin Independent Journal
An affordable housing forum in San Rafael outlined a prospective statewide bond measure that could raise $10 billion to $20 billion to create more homes in the Bay Area.
“This could provide between 35,000 to 80,000 new homes across the nine-county region,” Somaya Abdelgany, an official at the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority, told nearly 200 people at Dominican University of California.
How California lawmakers greenlit ‘any flavor of affordable housing you could possibly want’
BY BEN CHRISTOPHER
SEPTEMBER 19, 2023
A patchwork of bills are giving housing developers and local governments more options to reduce red tape for housing projects.
You may not have seen the headlines (there weren’t any). You may have missed the raucous debate (there wasn’t much of one). But with the end of the legislative session last week, California is now on the verge of laying down a welcome mat for most major affordable housing projects across the state.
State-Mandated Housing Coming to Your Town
Christine Epperley
September 13, 2023
Siyamak sits down with Christine Epperly, a licensed civil engineer and building designer with over 30 years in business. She discovered a state-run plan called the “15 Minute city”, that is changing the landscape of California.
“What’s happening in California is we’re building these high-density communities in the middle of the towns and suburbs. I looked at them and they’re basically all the same. It’s brutalism.”