Housing
Blog
Read about latest push for rent control
Even as rents fall, progressives push local rent controls
These local measures usually come with a tough cap on rent increases, as well as the creation of a new board of bureaucrats to monitor rents while diverting millions of dollars from other core city services. While local measures have fared better at the ballot box than the statewide efforts ...
California
Read the latest on the CA home insurance crisis
Another California crisis that can be solved with state officials getting out of the way
California’s home insurance market is deeply troubled. A former insurance commissioner said it’s “in chaos.” Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara calls it “a real crisis.” Using more colorful language, the president of a Los Angeles agency told The San Francisco Standard that “if there’s a major event” before the market is fixed, ...
California
Watch the latest Free Cities Center video
WATCH: Are Crime and Homelessness Shifting San Francisco Right?
Do recent election results show a rightward shift in San Francisco? Join Free Cities Center’s Steven Greenhut as he visits the City by the Bay and talks with two experts about what’s really going on in the City. They discuss whether things are really as bad as some media outlets ...
Blog
Portland gets serious about housing by slashing red tape
“The proposals, brought by Commissioner Carmen Rubio, would reduce bike parking requirements, allow residential units on the ground floor, relax rules for architectural reviews and temporarily suspend some requirements to hold neighborhood meetings in the areas where they want to build,” reported the Oregonian. As noted by Commissioner Rene Gonzalez ...
Blog
Read the latest on California's housing crisis
Cities can and should streamline housing approvals
Convoluted approval processes can mean lengthy delays and costlier developments, which in turn can mean less and more expensive housing. Fortunately, many city leaders are not only recognizing this but taking action to streamline how their own governments are doing things. Since taking office in 2022, Los Angeles Mayor Karen ...
Blog
Read about push for new housing regulations
Another Housing Package Destined To Fail
Democratic Assemblyman Alex Lee of the 24th District has produced a collection of housing legislation intended, says his team, “to address the housing crisis by protecting California’s homeownership opportunities and tenants’ rights, creating social housing for all.” Oh, “and much more.” Lee’s package of seven bills is yet another effort ...
California
Blame slow-growth policies for California’s housing and homeless crises
By Steven Greenhut & Wayne Winegarden The roots of California’s housing problems aren’t hard to trace given the reams of house-price and population data going back decades. The Los Angeles Times reported the median price of a California home in 1970 was only 5 percent higher than the national average at $24,300. That ...
California
Read the latest on Project Homekey
Latest figures show what we’ve known all along: Project Homekey is a waste of taxpayer dollars
Recently, the Bay Area media wondered if $800 million in aid from California’s Homekey program would help reduce homelessness in the region. Not to diminish the work that was put into the analysis, but some of us have known for quite a while that Project Homekey was not the answer. ...
Blog
Read latest on SF's housing woes
So-Called Vacant Housing Tax Will Make SF’s Rental Housing Problems Even Worse
San Francisco’s residential vacancy rate is around 13% to 15%. Tens of thousands of housing units are unoccupied. Some might see this as merely the natural order of things, the market response to the conditions on the ground. But politicians, and a majority of voters – 54% – believe it’s ...
California
Is 2024 Finally The Year of a California Homebuilding Breakthrough?
On Jan. 1, a package of housing legislation that was passed in 2023 took effect. Will the results be a homebuilding boom? California’s housing gap is implausibly wide, so it’s going to require a historic effort to catch up. In 2015, the Legislative Analyst’s Office said that “on top of ...
Read about latest push for rent control
Even as rents fall, progressives push local rent controls
These local measures usually come with a tough cap on rent increases, as well as the creation of a new board of bureaucrats to monitor rents while diverting millions of dollars from other core city services. While local measures have fared better at the ballot box than the statewide efforts ...
Read the latest on the CA home insurance crisis
Another California crisis that can be solved with state officials getting out of the way
California’s home insurance market is deeply troubled. A former insurance commissioner said it’s “in chaos.” Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara calls it “a real crisis.” Using more colorful language, the president of a Los Angeles agency told The San Francisco Standard that “if there’s a major event” before the market is fixed, ...
Watch the latest Free Cities Center video
WATCH: Are Crime and Homelessness Shifting San Francisco Right?
Do recent election results show a rightward shift in San Francisco? Join Free Cities Center’s Steven Greenhut as he visits the City by the Bay and talks with two experts about what’s really going on in the City. They discuss whether things are really as bad as some media outlets ...
Portland gets serious about housing by slashing red tape
“The proposals, brought by Commissioner Carmen Rubio, would reduce bike parking requirements, allow residential units on the ground floor, relax rules for architectural reviews and temporarily suspend some requirements to hold neighborhood meetings in the areas where they want to build,” reported the Oregonian. As noted by Commissioner Rene Gonzalez ...
Read the latest on California's housing crisis
Cities can and should streamline housing approvals
Convoluted approval processes can mean lengthy delays and costlier developments, which in turn can mean less and more expensive housing. Fortunately, many city leaders are not only recognizing this but taking action to streamline how their own governments are doing things. Since taking office in 2022, Los Angeles Mayor Karen ...
Read about push for new housing regulations
Another Housing Package Destined To Fail
Democratic Assemblyman Alex Lee of the 24th District has produced a collection of housing legislation intended, says his team, “to address the housing crisis by protecting California’s homeownership opportunities and tenants’ rights, creating social housing for all.” Oh, “and much more.” Lee’s package of seven bills is yet another effort ...
Blame slow-growth policies for California’s housing and homeless crises
By Steven Greenhut & Wayne Winegarden The roots of California’s housing problems aren’t hard to trace given the reams of house-price and population data going back decades. The Los Angeles Times reported the median price of a California home in 1970 was only 5 percent higher than the national average at $24,300. That ...
Read the latest on Project Homekey
Latest figures show what we’ve known all along: Project Homekey is a waste of taxpayer dollars
Recently, the Bay Area media wondered if $800 million in aid from California’s Homekey program would help reduce homelessness in the region. Not to diminish the work that was put into the analysis, but some of us have known for quite a while that Project Homekey was not the answer. ...
Read latest on SF's housing woes
So-Called Vacant Housing Tax Will Make SF’s Rental Housing Problems Even Worse
San Francisco’s residential vacancy rate is around 13% to 15%. Tens of thousands of housing units are unoccupied. Some might see this as merely the natural order of things, the market response to the conditions on the ground. But politicians, and a majority of voters – 54% – believe it’s ...
Is 2024 Finally The Year of a California Homebuilding Breakthrough?
On Jan. 1, a package of housing legislation that was passed in 2023 took effect. Will the results be a homebuilding boom? California’s housing gap is implausibly wide, so it’s going to require a historic effort to catch up. In 2015, the Legislative Analyst’s Office said that “on top of ...
