Homelessness

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Nothing Is Certain but Death, Taxes . . . and Silly Bills

The famous quote goes that there is nothing certain in life but death and taxes. When talking about your California Legislature, I’d add a third item to the list – there’s nothing certain in life but death, taxes, and silly bills. In my past life working at the Capitol, we’d ...
Blog

Are Trailers the Solution to LA’s Homeless Problem?

A dashcam video of downtown Los Angeles on Christmas Day 2017 revealed the devastating reality of the city’s homelessness problem. The video, shot in the city’s Skid Row district, shows dozens of tents, makeshift shelters, and people walking aimlessly along streets littered with trash. The video looked like it was ...
Blog

Are Things Really “Fine” in California?

PRI’s coverage of California’s poverty problem through various op-eds and a policy brief have drawn considerable attention. Most of it has been positive, but one California writer for the hard-left Mother Jones claimed that despite the point we made, “California is doing just fine, thank you very much.” Rather than ...
Blog

Latest Evidence Shows Rent Control Increases Costs, Reduces Housing Supply

As we have noted so many times before, rent control laws are one of the many flawed public policies that are driving California’s steep housing costs. Look here, here and here. Of course, we’re not alone in making this assertion. There is an extensive library of scholarly literature that has ...
California

Kerry Jackson Cited in Mises Wire: Why California Has the Nation’s Worst Poverty Rate

Earlier this week, the LA Times reminded its readers that California has the highest poverty rate in the nation. Specifically, when using the Census Bureau’s most recent” Supplemental Poverty Measure” (SPM), California clocks in with a poverty rate of 20 percent, which places it as worst in the nation. To be sure, California ...
Blog

Infrastructure Should Be Budget Priority – Here’s 2 Smart Ways to Make It So

Repairing California’s crumbling roads and highways, and investing in our other infrastructure needs should be at the top of the agenda in Sacramento.  Often, it falls victim to other budget priorities. There’s no question that setting aside a secure and stable annual funding stream to fix our roads, bridges, and ...
California

Michele Steeb – Helping Turn Women’s Lives Around

Saint John’s Program for Real Change CEO Michele Steeb joins us to discuss how the Sacramento-based program is making a difference in helping homeless mothers living in crisis break the cycle of poverty and make better lives for themselves and their children.
Blog

On Homelessness, Sacramento Is Becoming More Like San Francisco . . . and That’s Not a Good Thing

Around the time I joined PRI’s team last September, we opened new offices in Midtown Sacramento. I had never spent much time in Midtown before joining PRI.  For those who don’t live here, Midtown is a hip part of town with a bustling bar and restaurant scene, expensive new apartments ...
Blog

Housing shortage goes from dire to desperate after wildfires

A few months ago, Tim Anaya and I interviewed for PRI’s podcast Farhad Zabihi, a math professor at the College of Marin, who had been house hunting for nearly a year in Marin County.  Marin is just south of Napa and Sonoma — two of the hardest hit counties in ...
Blog

Is State’s Plastic Bag Ban Causing Rise in Hepatitis Cases?

A deadly hepatitis A outbreak in San Diego County has residents on edge. Since last November, at least 17 people have died and nearly 300 others have been sent to the hospital in what public health officials are calling the deadliest outbreak of the disease in the U.S. in decades. ...
Blog

Nothing Is Certain but Death, Taxes . . . and Silly Bills

The famous quote goes that there is nothing certain in life but death and taxes. When talking about your California Legislature, I’d add a third item to the list – there’s nothing certain in life but death, taxes, and silly bills. In my past life working at the Capitol, we’d ...
Blog

Are Trailers the Solution to LA’s Homeless Problem?

A dashcam video of downtown Los Angeles on Christmas Day 2017 revealed the devastating reality of the city’s homelessness problem. The video, shot in the city’s Skid Row district, shows dozens of tents, makeshift shelters, and people walking aimlessly along streets littered with trash. The video looked like it was ...
Blog

Are Things Really “Fine” in California?

PRI’s coverage of California’s poverty problem through various op-eds and a policy brief have drawn considerable attention. Most of it has been positive, but one California writer for the hard-left Mother Jones claimed that despite the point we made, “California is doing just fine, thank you very much.” Rather than ...
Blog

Latest Evidence Shows Rent Control Increases Costs, Reduces Housing Supply

As we have noted so many times before, rent control laws are one of the many flawed public policies that are driving California’s steep housing costs. Look here, here and here. Of course, we’re not alone in making this assertion. There is an extensive library of scholarly literature that has ...
California

Kerry Jackson Cited in Mises Wire: Why California Has the Nation’s Worst Poverty Rate

Earlier this week, the LA Times reminded its readers that California has the highest poverty rate in the nation. Specifically, when using the Census Bureau’s most recent” Supplemental Poverty Measure” (SPM), California clocks in with a poverty rate of 20 percent, which places it as worst in the nation. To be sure, California ...
Blog

Infrastructure Should Be Budget Priority – Here’s 2 Smart Ways to Make It So

Repairing California’s crumbling roads and highways, and investing in our other infrastructure needs should be at the top of the agenda in Sacramento.  Often, it falls victim to other budget priorities. There’s no question that setting aside a secure and stable annual funding stream to fix our roads, bridges, and ...
California

Michele Steeb – Helping Turn Women’s Lives Around

Saint John’s Program for Real Change CEO Michele Steeb joins us to discuss how the Sacramento-based program is making a difference in helping homeless mothers living in crisis break the cycle of poverty and make better lives for themselves and their children.
Blog

On Homelessness, Sacramento Is Becoming More Like San Francisco . . . and That’s Not a Good Thing

Around the time I joined PRI’s team last September, we opened new offices in Midtown Sacramento. I had never spent much time in Midtown before joining PRI.  For those who don’t live here, Midtown is a hip part of town with a bustling bar and restaurant scene, expensive new apartments ...
Blog

Housing shortage goes from dire to desperate after wildfires

A few months ago, Tim Anaya and I interviewed for PRI’s podcast Farhad Zabihi, a math professor at the College of Marin, who had been house hunting for nearly a year in Marin County.  Marin is just south of Napa and Sonoma — two of the hardest hit counties in ...
Blog

Is State’s Plastic Bag Ban Causing Rise in Hepatitis Cases?

A deadly hepatitis A outbreak in San Diego County has residents on edge. Since last November, at least 17 people have died and nearly 300 others have been sent to the hospital in what public health officials are calling the deadliest outbreak of the disease in the U.S. in decades. ...
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