Follow this tag to curate your own personalized Activity Stream and email alerts.
About 450 houses have been sold so far at Riverstone and 73 at Tesoro Viejo, which already has a school (Hillside Elementary) plus a cafe and fire/sheriff’s substation in its fledgling “town center.” Together, these “master-planned communities” along with other proposed developments with names like Gunner Ranch West, North Shore at Millerton and TraVigne form what Madera County officials project will be a city of 120,000 people. — The Fresno Bee
California's urban housing crisis, fueled by lackluster housing production in the state's population centers, is fueling sprawl that is eating up wilderness and agricultural land around cities like Fresno. Madera County supervisor Brett Frazier told The Fresno Bee, “The assumption was this... View full entry
Cities and counties in Southern California will have to plan for the construction of 1.3 million new homes in the next decade, a figure more than three times what local governments had proposed over the same period, according to a letter released by state housing officials Thursday. — The Los Angeles Times
Previously, the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG), a public agency that pursues regional planning efforts for Ventura, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Imperial counties, proposed zoning changes that would make room for just 430,000 new residences... View full entry
California communities are approving residential building permits at a slower rate than they did last year, a sign Gov. Gavin Newsom faces an even bigger hurdle to reach his housing goals than when he took office in January.
In the first five months of 2019, cities and counties issued permits for an average of 111,000 residential building units per year, according to data released Friday by the California Department of Finance.
That’s a decrease of 12.2 percent from the same period in 2018.
— The Sacramento Bee
The news is mostly bad for California governor Gavin Newsom's plan to build 3.5 million new housing units by 2025, as high land costs, a labor shortage, the effects of President Trump's tax cuts, and virulent NIMBYism threaten to stamp out regulatory reforms enacted over recent years. ... View full entry
2020 Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren has unveiled a modest affordable housing plan that would work to improve existing development mechanisms in an effort to increase the supply of affordable housing across the country. Arguing that "government at all levels hasn’t done... View full entry
...one issue stands out as particularly urgent and complex: housing. The lack of new supply, combined with the rising cost of living, has resulted in a severe shortage of affordable housing options for long-time middle and low income residents. As Google grows throughout the Bay Area—whether it’s in our home town of Mountain View, in San Francisco, or in our future developments in San Jose and Sunnyvale—we’ve invested in developing housing that meets the needs of these communities. — Google
Last week, Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced the company's pledge to invest in the development of affordable housing across the Bay Area. With the multi-billion dollar tech company calling the San Francisco Bay Area home with its beginnings starting over 20 years ago, Google is aware of its... View full entry
Austin is planning to grow significantly over the next few years. 60,000 new units are planned for the city, to be complete in the next few years, according to KVUE. This month, the Austin City Council voted to support a new housing plan for the city that could bring up to 135,000 new residences... View full entry
Many baby boomers poured millions into these spacious homes, planning to live out their golden years in houses with all the bells and whistles.
Now, many boomers are discovering that these large, high-maintenance houses no longer fit their needs as they grow older, but younger people aren’t buying them.
— wsj.com
The Wall Street Journal reports that wealthy baby boomers in America's far-flung retirement suburbs are having trouble selling their McMansions. The problem? The homes are too big, too expensive, and too far away from everything else. Another issue: Too many multi-million dollar homes are... View full entry
When Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti took office in 2013, the city was home to 22,993 homeless residents [...].
The number of unhoused people living within city limits now stands at 36,300—and 75 percent are unsheltered.
With homelessness up 58 percent on his watch, the mayor struck an apologetic tone in a letter sent to residents Tuesday.
— Curbed LA
"As your mayor, I take full responsibility for our response to this crisis," wrote Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti in an open letter this week. "And like everyone who has seen families in tents or spoken to a homeless veteran in need, I am both heartbroken and impatient. While we have housed more... View full entry
Author William H. Frey, senior fellow for the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brooking Institute, writes, "These trends are consistent with previous census releases for counties and metropolitan areas that point to a greater dispersion of the U.S. population as the economy and housing market... View full entry
Mayor London Breed’s proposed budget for the coming fiscal year will soar by $1.2 billion — making it the largest in city history — and boost investment in tackling the city’s most urgent problems: housing and homelessness. — SF Chronicle
The housing and homelessness crisis in major cities, especially in San Francisco, has been an ongoing issue. Mayor London Breed met with city officials and San Francisco residents to address new plans to address solutions towards the increased initiative towards housing and homelessness. With an... View full entry
The annual point-in-time count, delivered to the Board of Supervisors, put the number of homeless people just shy of 59,000 countywide. Within the city of Los Angeles, the number soared to more than 36,000, a 16% increase. — The Los Angeles Times
Homelessness is surging in Los Angeles County and across California, where most major cities have seen double-digit increases in their share of residents experiencing homelessness since last year. Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas told The Los Angeles Times, “At this point of... View full entry
Blackstone Group is cashing in on its bet on the suburban rental class.
The private-equity firm late Tuesday sold more than $1 billion of shares of Invitation Homes Inc., the giant single-family home landlord it launched following the financial crisis in a wager that many Americans would be willing to rent the suburban lifestyle they could no longer afford to own.
— Wall Street Journal
In the two years since private-equity firm Blackstone Group launched its suburban home management service, Invitation Homes, the company's stock has gone up by over 26%. During that same time, homeownership has fallen to its lowest levels since the mid-1990s, rents have edged upward in the... View full entry
The housing crisis in large cities, especially in Los Angeles, has been an ongoing issue. Currently, Los Angeles County is home to the second largest population of settled homelessness in the U.S. Local government and organizations aim to create solutions in order to combat the issue with a little... View full entry
A growing number of entrepreneurs are leading the way, challenging our antiquated housing system and creating new ways for housing to be more equitable and affordable across the board.
However, they need support navigating the complex policy environment and accessing the necessary capital. The Housing Lab will advise promising ventures while they evolve their business models and connect them with the industry leaders and capital to achieve greater scale.
— The Terner Center for Housing Innovation
In California, the collapse of proposed statewide legislation that would have eliminated single-family zoning and could have boosted density along transit corridors has left housing activists scrambling. While state legislators regroup to tackle the structural issues, like zoning, underpinning... View full entry
Seattle’s upzoning plan is set to take place throughout the city, but only 6 percent of single-family neighborhoods will be affected. These neighborhoods will be rezoned to allow for smaller, denser housing, while encouraging developers to keep existing structures and turn them into multifamily housing — like duplexes — in order to preserve a neighborhood’s aesthetic. — NBC News
Since 2010 Seattle's population has seen a hike of 16%, so have the rents and the property prices. And while real estate in the city is booming, little of the development is targeted towards the growing demand for affordable housing. Today 75% of Seattle's residential land is zoned for... View full entry
