During the pre-industrial era, crops of wheat were planted, cultivated, harvested and processed by hand. The latter included “winnowing,” typically by using a shallow basket to toss the crushed kernels of wheat into the air, allowing the wind to separate edible grain from the lighter and disposable chaff. The term...
Gov. Newsom Targets Homeless Crisis in Budget, Order
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday that he is seeking $750 million in part to help pay rent for people facing homelessness in the most populous state's latest attempt to fight what he called a national crisis. Newsom planned to sign an executive order Wednesday creating the fund, two...
Homeless Women Who Took Over California Home Gain Support
OAKLAND — Some California lawmakers said they support a group of homeless women who have been illegally living in a vacant three-bedroom house since November, partly to protest real estate speculators who drive up housing costs in the pricey San Francisco Bay Area. Moms 4 Housing, a collective recently formed...
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...
California Housing Crisis Mystery: Rents Way up, Eviction Filings Way Down
Shirley Gibson isn’t quite sure how to feel about these numbers. As directing attorney of the Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County — which offers legal services to low-income tenants caught between the preposterously priced southern suburbs of San Francisco and the preposterously priced suburbs of Silicon Valley —...
US Long-Term Mortgage Rates Ease; 30-Year Loan at 3.72%
WASHINGTON — U.S. long-term mortgage rates declined slightly this week, remaining close to the historically low levels where they have hovered for the past two months. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday the average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage eased to 3.72% from 3.74% last week. The benchmark rate...
Anti-Semitism Grows in Jewish Communities in NYC Suburbs
MONSEY, N.Y. — For years, ultra-Orthodox Jewish families priced out of increasingly expensive Brooklyn neighborhoods have been turning to the suburbs, where they have taken advantage of open space and cheaper housing to establish modern-day versions of the European shtetls where their ancestors lived for centuries before the Holocaust. The...
California Needs to Treat Homelessness Like the Disaster It Is. Let’s Provide Housing First
For the past 23 years, I have led a statewide homeless services and housing development agency. In Los Angeles, I have interacted with four mayors, three cycles of county supervisors, and dozens of city council members. During this period, the approach to the growing issue of homelessness has been predictable....
Walters: California's Housing Crisis vs. Reality
As he was running for governor, Gavin Newsom repeatedly and emphatically promised to attack California’s housing shortage head-on, pledging in an online article to “lead the effort to develop the 3.5 million new housing units we need by 2025 because our solutions must be as bold as the problem is big.” During his...
California Still Most Populous, but Stalls at 39.9 Million
SACRAMENTO — California's population has stalled at 39.9 million people as expensive housing prices and other factors convince more people to leave the state for other parts of the country. An estimate released Friday showed California added 141,300 people from July 1, 2018, to July 1, 2019, bringing its total...