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.
California affordable housing programs are on the chopping block after Supreme Court ruling
by CalMatters
August 2, 2025
New residential projects need to set aside a share of the units they plan to build for lower-income renters and homeowners under the terms of the city’s “inclusionary zoning” ordinance. Builders who refuse have to instead pay a fee, ranging from the tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
An East Palo Alto homeowner filed a lawsuit in federal court on Thursday challenging the constitutionality of that law, likening it to “extortion” — and he had a little help from the U.S. Supreme Court.
Holding on by our fingertips
by Hannah Bensen
August 1, 2025
Across the Bay Area, people are struggling to make ends meet, and finding affordable housing is a big part of the problem. Nowhere is that problem more acute than on the Midpeninsula, where money managers say it takes a million-dollar salary to afford a starter home – the highest home prices in the state of California.
Revised San Antonio housing project to offer fewer affordable apartments
by Grace Gormley
August 1, 2025
Menlo Park-based builder Acclaim Companies has revised its proposal for a housing complex at 762 San Antonio Road, a 197-apartment development that will go up in an area next to the Mountain View border where Palo Alto is trying to encourage housing growth. The new proposal has a larger facade, fewer affordable housing units and a roof deck, but will remain seven stories tall, with the five upper stories serving as housing and the lower two as amenities and a garage with 252 parking stalls.
Other Voices: Housing Legislation Threatens Single-family homes, small businesses
By Ann Duwe
July 30, 2025
SB 79 is among more than 200 housing bills aimed at remaking California in the image of Manhattan. Grossly mislabeled as the “Abundant & Affordable Homes Near Transit Act,” the bill increases housing density near dedicated bus, train and ferry stops by reaching deep into the neighborhoods around those stops and permitting, by right, five to seven story rental apartment buildings. The bill does little to make this new housing affordable and wreaks havoc with the planning effort made by cities with compliant Housing Elements.
Despite changes, critics remain unswayed by housing bill SB 79
by Riley Cooke
July 28, 2025
A contentious state bill to encourage denser housing near public transit has been revised to give local governments more control over where that housing is built in an effort to appease skeptics who are concerned about overrides to local zoning.
California does not have a Housing Supply Shortage!
By Gaeton Lion
July 25, 2025
Everyone believes California does have a housing supply shortage because of its staggering home prices. But, it does not. Its home prices respond to qualitative factors independent of housing supply.
19% of California houses are owned by investors
By Jon Lansner
July 21, 2025
Relatively speaking, California is not a hot spot for housing investors.
That’s a conclusion from my trusty spreadsheet’s review of data on investor activity across the nation from BatchData, a small data tracker that digs deeper into property records than many traditional real estate analysts. By this math, 19% of California houses were owned by investors, ranking No. 36 among the states and just below the 20% national norm.
This rich California city is losing its mind over a housing project
By Emily Hoeven, Columnist
June 28, 2025
Most Californians are intimately familiar with stories of cities going to comically absurd lengths to block new housing.
Sausalito tried to argue it could build affordable units on underwater eelgrass. La Cañada Flintridge in Los Angeles County flirted with bankruptcy to fight its first multifamily development in more than a decade. And Woodside attempted to declare itself a mountain lion sanctuary to avoid duplexes. But the affluent city of Menlo Park is bucking the trend. At least it’s trying to.
Renters Are Taking Over CA Suburbs, New Study Finds
By Kristina Houck, Patch Staff
Sat, Jun 21, 2025
Moving to the suburbs meant putting down roots and putting down a mortgage, but things have changed, according to a new report. A new study from Point2Homes showed that 203 suburbs across the country’s 20 largest metros now have more renters than homeowners. With more people leasing their homes than owning them in these communities, the line between city and suburb continues to blur. The blurred line is driven by affordability, changing lifestyles and mobility, according to Andra Hopulele, the author of the study.