Recent Streetsblog CALIFORNIA posts about Housing

Advocates are trying to work within political realities to provide more housing. Image: Pixabay.

S.F. SPUR Talk: Scratching Away at the Housing Crisis

By Roger Rudick | Mar 3, 2017 | No Comments

A panel discussion about efforts to provide housing for families doubled as a rally supporting legislation that aims to increase the amount of work-force and family housing in San Francisco.

Image from Outlook Archives via Susan Cloke

Santa Monica Lawmaker Introduces Bill to End Statewide Rent Control Limitations

By Jason Islas | Feb 23, 2017 | 1 Comment

Assemblymember Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica) introduced a bill that would repeal the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, the 1995 state law that weakened the strictest rent control laws in the state. The law required cities to allow property owners to raise rents on units when they were vacated, a practice that had been prohibited by strict rent control laws in Santa Monica, West Hollywood, Berkeley, Cotati, and East Palo Alto.

This project, approved by the Santa Monica City Council in 2016, will add more than 300 new apartments, including 64 affordable units, within walking distance of a light rail station. Projects like this one are few and far between because they take years to negotiate and face tremendous political risks due to anti-development sentiment that can often kill them after much time and money has been spent planning them.

Governor Brown to City Governments: It’s On You to Make California Affordable Again

By Jason Islas | Jan 12, 2017 | 17 Comments

Governor Brown's budget proposal explicitly states that money for affordable housing will not come out of the State’s General Fund and no new funding sources will be available without significant reform to local laws that currently stand in the way of housing growth

Governor’s Budget Revision: Nothing New for Transportation

By Melanie Curry | May 13, 2016 | 3 Comments

Governor Brown issued his May revision of the state budget proposal, and in terms of transportation, it’s pretty much the same story we told in January. That is, he proposes a variety of new revenues, including a “road improvement charge” and higher gas taxes, to fix California’s transportation infrastructure. But the revision shows no fundamental […]

Santa Monica Lawmaker Takes Aim at California’s Housing Shortage

By Jason Islas | Mar 16, 2016 | 11 Comments

California State Assemblymember Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica) has set his sights on tackling the dire shortage of homes—and the resulting affordability crisis—currently facing the state. Bloom, whose district includes Malibu, Santa Monica, West L.A., Brentwood, and Beverly Hills, currently has three bills pending—A.B. 2501, A.B. 2299, and A.B. 2522—that seek to lower barriers to new […]

SGC Awards More Affordable Housing Funds and Updates Guidelines

By Melanie Curry | Dec 18, 2015 | 1 Comment

The California Strategic Growth Council (SGC) agreed yesterday to award funding to eight projects that had been left out of the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities awards earlier this year. The projects had all applied for funding under the AHSC program, and had all received high scores, but limited funding and a requirement that […]

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