Housing
Blog
What We’re Watching – January 4
Tim Anaya – A Trip Down California Inaugural History Lane https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htqHCb27S-8 On Monday, Gavin Newsom will be sworn in as California’s next governor. If, like me, you enjoy the ceremony and pageantry of inaugurations, check out this Huell Howser special from the mid-1990’s exploring the history of California’s inaugurals and ...
Blog
Do We Have a Right to Shelter?
Does everyone by virtue of their existence have a right to shelter? It’s a question the California legislature will consider in 2019. Earlier this month, Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, introduced Senate Bill 48. This Right to Shelter Bill “aims to ensure that homeless individuals and families throughout California have ...
Blog
New Year’s Resolutions The California Legislature Should (But Probably Won’t) Make
Going into a new year, many of us use the occasion to start fresh, forget about the old, and resolve to improve our lives. If lawmakers are open to suggestions, here are some New Year’s resolutions the California Senate and Assembly should make: Abolish the California Environmental Quality Act. Why ...
Blog
California’s Carbon Madness
California’s runaway housing prices caused by a policy-created shortage of homes will be getting a tailwind in a little more than a year. Beginning on Jan. 1, 2020, every home built in the state, including condominiums and low-rise apartments, will have to have solar panels on their roofs. The regulatory ...
Blog
CEQA Foils Yet Another Important Project for California’s Future
We’ve recently said that Elon Musk’s tunnel-boring project could be the potential foundation of a hyperloop transportation system. But as is too often the case in California, a reasonable objective has been sidelined by outrage. Musk has abandoned the project that began near his SpaceX Hawthorne Municipal Airport headquarters because ...
Blog
Proposition C Makes San Francisco A ‘Sanctuary City’ For The Homeless
When San Franciscans went to the polls on Nov. 6, they knew in advance what the consequences are likely to be if an initiative to tax corporations to fund services for the homeless was approved. Yet they passed it anyway. Nearly 61 percent voted for Proposition C, which imposes a ...
California
Californians Aren’t Embracing Sound Rent Control Policy Quite Yet
California voters earlier this month firmly rejected a proposition that would have repealed the state’s restrictions on rent-control laws. Nearly 62 percent said no, local governments cannot regulate the price of housing. But don’t mistake the vote with a sudden embrace of free-market housing policies. After all, October polling by ...
California
California’s predictably blue midterm elections – and what it means for you
The midterm elections were a rather tiresome affair in California. The Democratic Party maintained its dominance in the state, holding majorities in the Legislature, securing the governor’s mansion yet again, and sending another mass of winning candidates to Washington. As news goes, there’s not much to see here. Conventional wisdom ...
Blog
More Election Woes: Tax Hikes to Save Pensions
In some excellent reporting by Chris Reed of CalWatchdog, Reed found that more than 100 local governments in California asked voters for tax hikes on Election Day, double the 56 the Bond Buyer said it recorded in November 2016. These 100+ measures were on top of the 36 city and ...
Commentary
Homeless Kids – Federal Problems Block Local Solutions
Homelessness among children is more widespread than imagined, and the many problems faced by these children, from instability to personal safety, seriously impact their education. Yet federal housing policies undercut the ability of local organizations to implement proven solutions. A recent study by Schoolhouse Washington, an education research initiative in ...
What We’re Watching – January 4
Tim Anaya – A Trip Down California Inaugural History Lane https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htqHCb27S-8 On Monday, Gavin Newsom will be sworn in as California’s next governor. If, like me, you enjoy the ceremony and pageantry of inaugurations, check out this Huell Howser special from the mid-1990’s exploring the history of California’s inaugurals and ...
Do We Have a Right to Shelter?
Does everyone by virtue of their existence have a right to shelter? It’s a question the California legislature will consider in 2019. Earlier this month, Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, introduced Senate Bill 48. This Right to Shelter Bill “aims to ensure that homeless individuals and families throughout California have ...
New Year’s Resolutions The California Legislature Should (But Probably Won’t) Make
Going into a new year, many of us use the occasion to start fresh, forget about the old, and resolve to improve our lives. If lawmakers are open to suggestions, here are some New Year’s resolutions the California Senate and Assembly should make: Abolish the California Environmental Quality Act. Why ...
California’s Carbon Madness
California’s runaway housing prices caused by a policy-created shortage of homes will be getting a tailwind in a little more than a year. Beginning on Jan. 1, 2020, every home built in the state, including condominiums and low-rise apartments, will have to have solar panels on their roofs. The regulatory ...
CEQA Foils Yet Another Important Project for California’s Future
We’ve recently said that Elon Musk’s tunnel-boring project could be the potential foundation of a hyperloop transportation system. But as is too often the case in California, a reasonable objective has been sidelined by outrage. Musk has abandoned the project that began near his SpaceX Hawthorne Municipal Airport headquarters because ...
Proposition C Makes San Francisco A ‘Sanctuary City’ For The Homeless
When San Franciscans went to the polls on Nov. 6, they knew in advance what the consequences are likely to be if an initiative to tax corporations to fund services for the homeless was approved. Yet they passed it anyway. Nearly 61 percent voted for Proposition C, which imposes a ...
Californians Aren’t Embracing Sound Rent Control Policy Quite Yet
California voters earlier this month firmly rejected a proposition that would have repealed the state’s restrictions on rent-control laws. Nearly 62 percent said no, local governments cannot regulate the price of housing. But don’t mistake the vote with a sudden embrace of free-market housing policies. After all, October polling by ...
California’s predictably blue midterm elections – and what it means for you
The midterm elections were a rather tiresome affair in California. The Democratic Party maintained its dominance in the state, holding majorities in the Legislature, securing the governor’s mansion yet again, and sending another mass of winning candidates to Washington. As news goes, there’s not much to see here. Conventional wisdom ...
More Election Woes: Tax Hikes to Save Pensions
In some excellent reporting by Chris Reed of CalWatchdog, Reed found that more than 100 local governments in California asked voters for tax hikes on Election Day, double the 56 the Bond Buyer said it recorded in November 2016. These 100+ measures were on top of the 36 city and ...
Homeless Kids – Federal Problems Block Local Solutions
Homelessness among children is more widespread than imagined, and the many problems faced by these children, from instability to personal safety, seriously impact their education. Yet federal housing policies undercut the ability of local organizations to implement proven solutions. A recent study by Schoolhouse Washington, an education research initiative in ...
