SACRAMENTO — Crisis. Emergency. California lawmakers are describing the state’s housing crunch in dire terms. But few seem to agree on what to do about it. The political wrangling over the last few weeks around bills to cap rent increases, set new rules for evictions and cut red tape to...
Walters: Can California Crack Its Housing Nut?
The state Department of Finance reported this month that California, which has a stubborn and growing shortage of housing, added just 77,000 houses, apartments and condos in 2018. Actually, private and public housing developers drew permits for well over 100,000 units, and about that many were constructed. But a whopping...
Key Conflicts Roil California’s Ever-Evolving Waterscape
As 2018 was winding down, one of California’s leading newspapers suggested, via a front-page, banner-headlined article, that the drought that had plagued the state for much of this decade may be returning. Just weeks later, that same newspaper was reporting that record-level midwinter storms were choking mountain passes with snow,...
Mayor Says Clovis Should be No. 1 City for Medical Care
Citing examples such as the dramatic expansion of Clovis Community Medical Center, the city's mayor said he wants to turn his community into the Valley's "medical care destination." At the annual State of Clovis address Thursday morning at the Clovis Memorial District building, Mayor Drew Bessinger also noted the new...
Single Family Zoning Could Disappear Under State Housing Bill
SACRAMENTO — California lawmakers advanced a proposal Wednesday to spur more housing near transportation and jobs and make it easier to turn single-family homes into fourplexes as the state grapples with a lack of affordable housing. The measure, a compromise between two Democratic senators, sets different requirements for small and...
San Francisco Commission OKs Shelter Near Tourist Area
SAN FRANCISCO — Port commissioners Tuesday night unanimously approved a proposal to lease land for a 200-bed temporary homeless shelter in the popular Embarcadero tourist area as the city struggles with a severe shortage of affordable housing. Supporters cheered as the commissioners voted unanimously to lease a port-owned parking lot...
Housing-Strapped California Debates Density Near Job Hubs
SACRAMENTO — A controversial proposal to increase housing near transportation and job hubs faces a key test Wednesday as California lawmakers search for solutions to the state's housing affordability crisis. Democratic Sen. Scott Wiener's bill is one of dozens on housing before lawmakers this year that attempt to the slow...
California May Boost Rules for Homes at High Wildfire Risk
SACRAMENTO — Years of increasingly deadly California wildfires spurred lawmakers to consider regulations Tuesday that would toughen local governments' requirements for approving housing developments in high-risk areas. A state Senate committee voted 8-3 Monday to advance a measure requiring developers to increase fire protections, plan for evacuations, or prepare for...
Mental Health 'Catastrophe:' Vanishing Board-and-Care-Homes Leave Residents Few Options
This summer, Tom Gray will lose his home. A slim man with hunched shoulders and a halting voice, Gray, 72, has schizophrenia. Before he landed in Carmen Palarca’s board-and-care home 11 years ago, he spent 20 years living on the streets, many of them huddled in a doorway across from...
Are in-Law Units the Secret Solution to the State’s Housing Shortage?
California lawmakers have pitched dozens of bold, high-profile solutions to California’s affordable housing shortage: billion dollar affordable-housing bonds, revamping the state’s signature environmental protection law, suing NIMBY-inclined cities into permitting more development. But for all the big-picture housing legislation that has actually become law over the past few years, the...