In 2017, Susanna Cardenas-Lopez left her home in Salinas to visit her brother in Idaho. Three days into her trip, she called her husband and told him they needed to move there. Back in Salinas, Cardenas-Lopez and her husband were left out in the cold after their landlord decided to...
Last Year’s Hottest Housing Fight Just Got Resurrected — Here’s What to Know
For the third year in a row, California lawmakers will consider a controversial housing proposal that would force neighborhoods to allow taller, denser housing near public transportation and job centers. San Francisco Democratic Sen. Scott Wiener — whose Senate Bill 50 has twice been beaten back, in different forms, by an assortment of...
Walters: Housing Crisis — Fits and Starts
The latest developments in California’s housing crisis are, as usual, mixed. In September, according to the Legislature’s budget analyst, permits for 10,580 new housing units were issued, a 13% increase from August and a 40% boost from September 2018. However, overall housing starts are still running below 2018’s level, meaning the...
Apple Commits $2.5B to Combat California Housing Crisis
CUPERTINO — Apple has committed $2.5 billion to ease California's housing crisis, eclipsing similar pledges by fellow Silicon Valley giants Google and Facebook to address a lack of affordable housing in the region they call home. Apple's pledge Monday includes a $1 billion fund to build new homes for households...
Newsom Signs Statewide Rent Cap Law
SACRAMENTO — California will limit rent increases for some people over the next decade after Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law Tuesday aimed at combating a housing crisis in the nation's most populous state. Newsom signed the bill at an event in Oakland, an area where a recent report...
Forestiere Underground Gardens Light a Path to Ending Housing Crisis
In our search for inspiring new ideas for solving California’s housing crisis, we must dig deeper. How deep? At least to the depths plumbed by Baldassare Forestiere. If you’ve never heard of Forestiere, you’re not alone. He’s never become the household name he should be in California. He deserves far...
Rent Cap Bill Won’t Fix California’s Housing Crisis
When California lawmakers vote on a rent cap bill in the coming days, they must consider the consequences it will have on our state’s housing crisis for years to come. Our state’s housing affordability and availability crisis deserves a comprehensive approach that prioritizes building more homes for rent and ownership....
California Governor Announces Deal to Cap Rising Rent Prices
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom reached a deal with apartment owners and developers Friday on legislation that would cap how rapidly rents can rise as the state grapples with a housing crisis. The deal would cap annual rent increases at 5% plus inflation, with a 10% maximum increase. That's lower...
A Rare Tenant Win, But Why Don’t California’s Renters Have More Political Punch?
California tenants just scored a rare victory in the state Capitol — emphasis on the rare. A high-profile bill passed by the state Assembly would impose a “rent-gouging cap” on annual rent increases for the vast majority of renters. If approved by the state Senate and signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, it...
So, Hollywood, Where Is the Oscar Love for Oakland?
The best California movie scene of recent vintage is the opening of the 2018 film Sorry to Bother You. A man and his girlfriend are getting intimate when his apartment suddenly fills with daylight, making their union visible to the people outside on an Oakland street. What happened? California’s housing...