My maternal grandmother Edith LeFrancois’s former house sits in a cul-de-sac just off the State College Boulevard corridor, which connects Angel Stadium with Cal State Fullerton. 310 N. Olympia Place — a three-bedroom, beige-stucco split-level built in 1957 — was a very hard-earned piece of the California dream when she...
In Modesto, Uncle Shelby's Old House Is Now a Rental
Housing and the stability it promises can be hard to find in California. Take the family of Shelby Humphrey, my great uncle on my mom’s side. After the Second World War, he, his wife Doris, and their 10 children left Southern California for Modesto. They rented 17 different places while...
Habitat for Humanity Puts Affordable Housing Within Reach
Worrying about rats biting you while you sleep in your home is not what anyone would call living the American Dream. Unfortunately, that scenario is something Matthew Grundy finds all too prevalent in the Fresno community. "There's actually 44,000 residents that lack safe and decent housing in the greater Fresno area,"...
In Chula Vista, as in Fresno, Ag Land Is Tomorrow's Subdivision
Once, 34 Davidson was a landmark. Now it is a secret. I visited the home recently as part of a quest to understand how California housing and California dreams are aging and changing. I studied six different houses, in different parts of the state, all of which had deep meaning...
‘My Children Can’t Buy a House in California Anymore’
California is famously a home for abrupt shifts and sudden transformations in culture, lifestyle, and technology. And our homes can change as profoundly as our state does. Few places better represent change than the Long Beach home that my great-grandparents, Raymond and Rebecca Corcoran, paid $8,000 to have built for...
My Turn: Voters Showed Their Hearts With Support for People With Mental Illness
It’s an amazing story, really. A testament to the priorities – and the hearts — of California voters. Earlier this month, more than 6.5 million people voted in favor of Proposition 2, the initiative that will generate billions of dollars to build supportive housing, linked to services and treatment, for...
Dan Walters: Four Measures Would Do Little About Housing Crisis
Few would doubt that California’s single most important economic/political issue is a growing housing shortage which distresses millions of Californians and is the largest single factor in the state’s highest-in-the-nation poverty rate. The state says we need to be building 180,000 new housing units each year to keep up with...
Liberalism Has Evolved Into Closed, Elitist System It Once Replaced
"Liberalism made the modern world, but the modern world is turning against it." So begins a thought-provoking essay from The Economist magazine analyzing the growing global shift away from long-standing Western democratic values to a more widespread acceptance of nationalism and authoritarianism. "Western voters have started to doubt that the...
State to RV Park Owner: Fix Problems or Pay Up!
Despite the promises of the owner of a run-down RV park to fix his facility, nothing has changed. Now, the owner could face tens of thousands of dollars in fines and time in jail. Mohamed Saeed, the owner of Jack’s Resort RV Park, told GV Wire he would fix his...
Clovis on the Housing Hook? Millions at Stake.
Clovis Housing At Odds with State? The Clovis council hears a report tonight (March 12) about how the city is complying with state housing mandates. The short answer: they are not. And, it could cost them more than $2 million in state funding. The city is short 4,425 housing units....