Housing
Blog
CAPITAL IDEAS: Don’t Confuse Private Prisons with The Bastille
Download the PDF They are not as unpopular in California as President Trump is, but private prisons are becoming a preferred target of politicians. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has a large blue-plate special of problems to solve, is at the forefront of a campaign to end the state’s relationship with ...
Blog
Public Lands A Partial Solution To California’s Housing Crisis
When Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order “to address the shortage of housing for Californians,” he got it right, or at least halfway. The order directs “the Department of General Services (DGS) and the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) to identify and prioritize excess state-owned property and ...
Agriculture
Does California Have a Future?
Republican California State Assemblyman Vince Fong recently tweeted about California’s 19 percent poverty rate, which he said “is driven by the extreme high cost of living here.” “Yet,” said Fong, “Sacramento continues to pass policies that make it even more expensive.” In a story illustrated by an artist’s rendering of a family in ...
Blog
Rentonomics in California: It’s Worse than We Think
Right by the Bay has sounded the alarm on the affordable housing crisis, especially our colleague Kerry Jackson, who has written about it here, here, and here. But until we get real reform, like Sam in Casablanca, we plan to play it again and again. A new study by Apartment ...
Blog
CEQA Show Hearing Gets California Nowhere
The state Senate held a joint informational hearing last month that, on the surface, looked to be a step forward for those who believe the California Environmental Quality Act needs reform, if not a top-to-bottom overhaul. But apparently the hearing was anything but an effort to fix the law that ...
Blog
Is Push to Lower Local Tax Threshold About Funding Vital Projects or Funding Public Pensions?
Yesterday, my colleague Rowena Itchon wrote about Sacramento’s “taxfest” – the various proposals introduced this year to raise taxes on hard-working Californians. That’s only part of the story. A group of lawmakers wants to make it easier to raise local taxes. Thanks to Proposition 13, a two-thirds vote of the ...
Commentary
Failed federal housing policy undermines Trump’s opioid reforms
By Lance Izumi and Michele Steeb Over the past two years, President Trump has promoted bold reforms designed to address the opioid crisis. Congress, in a rare bipartisan effort, wholeheartedly supported Trump’s significant reforms, but these initiatives are being undermined by the failures of federal housing policy. In October 2018, ...
California
California doesn’t have to be like Texas – following Florida’s lead will work
Texas, it’s been said recent years, should inspire California to recapture its lost promise, to polish its fading luster. While the Golden State grapples with a host of Blue State struggles, housing is more affordable in the Lone Star state, taxes are lower, business is welcomed rather than handcuffed, and ...
Blog
Why Buy A Modest Home in California for The Price of a Texas Mansion?
It can cost a half-million dollars more to build the same-size house in California as it does in Texas. The number of adults surprised by this is roughly zero. While California ranked no. 3 in new home construction in 2017, housing supply still lags far behind demand in the most ...
Blog
CAPITAL IDEAS: California’s Plastic Police Always on The Job
DOWNLOAD THE PDF It was inevitable. California lawmakers’ assault on choice continues in 2019. The plastic-bag ban already in effect is not enough to satisfy their appetite for micromanaging others’ lives. After successfully outlawing single-use plastic bags in grocery stores and other large retailers, with the help of voters in ...
CAPITAL IDEAS: Don’t Confuse Private Prisons with The Bastille
Download the PDF They are not as unpopular in California as President Trump is, but private prisons are becoming a preferred target of politicians. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has a large blue-plate special of problems to solve, is at the forefront of a campaign to end the state’s relationship with ...
Public Lands A Partial Solution To California’s Housing Crisis
When Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order “to address the shortage of housing for Californians,” he got it right, or at least halfway. The order directs “the Department of General Services (DGS) and the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) to identify and prioritize excess state-owned property and ...
Does California Have a Future?
Republican California State Assemblyman Vince Fong recently tweeted about California’s 19 percent poverty rate, which he said “is driven by the extreme high cost of living here.” “Yet,” said Fong, “Sacramento continues to pass policies that make it even more expensive.” In a story illustrated by an artist’s rendering of a family in ...
Rentonomics in California: It’s Worse than We Think
Right by the Bay has sounded the alarm on the affordable housing crisis, especially our colleague Kerry Jackson, who has written about it here, here, and here. But until we get real reform, like Sam in Casablanca, we plan to play it again and again. A new study by Apartment ...
CEQA Show Hearing Gets California Nowhere
The state Senate held a joint informational hearing last month that, on the surface, looked to be a step forward for those who believe the California Environmental Quality Act needs reform, if not a top-to-bottom overhaul. But apparently the hearing was anything but an effort to fix the law that ...
Is Push to Lower Local Tax Threshold About Funding Vital Projects or Funding Public Pensions?
Yesterday, my colleague Rowena Itchon wrote about Sacramento’s “taxfest” – the various proposals introduced this year to raise taxes on hard-working Californians. That’s only part of the story. A group of lawmakers wants to make it easier to raise local taxes. Thanks to Proposition 13, a two-thirds vote of the ...
Failed federal housing policy undermines Trump’s opioid reforms
By Lance Izumi and Michele Steeb Over the past two years, President Trump has promoted bold reforms designed to address the opioid crisis. Congress, in a rare bipartisan effort, wholeheartedly supported Trump’s significant reforms, but these initiatives are being undermined by the failures of federal housing policy. In October 2018, ...
California doesn’t have to be like Texas – following Florida’s lead will work
Texas, it’s been said recent years, should inspire California to recapture its lost promise, to polish its fading luster. While the Golden State grapples with a host of Blue State struggles, housing is more affordable in the Lone Star state, taxes are lower, business is welcomed rather than handcuffed, and ...
Why Buy A Modest Home in California for The Price of a Texas Mansion?
It can cost a half-million dollars more to build the same-size house in California as it does in Texas. The number of adults surprised by this is roughly zero. While California ranked no. 3 in new home construction in 2017, housing supply still lags far behind demand in the most ...
CAPITAL IDEAS: California’s Plastic Police Always on The Job
DOWNLOAD THE PDF It was inevitable. California lawmakers’ assault on choice continues in 2019. The plastic-bag ban already in effect is not enough to satisfy their appetite for micromanaging others’ lives. After successfully outlawing single-use plastic bags in grocery stores and other large retailers, with the help of voters in ...
