Bay Area Speaker Rivas shuffles the leadership deck and YIMBYs win By Ben Christopher | CalMatters | November 22, 2023 Oakland Democrat Buffy Wicks has been appointed to a more powerful position.
energy As rooftop solar debate flares, builders, landlords, and renter advocates are taking sides By Ben Christopher | CalMatters | October 6, 2023 The California Public Utilities Commission may gut the payments to owners of solar panels on apartment buildings.
wildfires Can this plan fix California’s insurance crisis? What you need to know By Ben Christopher | CalMatters | September 21, 2023 Insurers would return to wildfire zones, but would have an easier path to rate increases.
Housing How California lawmakers greenlit ‘any flavor of affordable housing you could possibly want’ By Ben Christopher | CalMatters | September 19, 2023 A patchwork of bills are giving housing developers and local governments more options to reduce red tape for housing projects.
Housing Making borrowing easier: Amendment to state constitution could unlock billions of dollars for California housing By Ben Christopher | CalMatters | August 10, 2023 An effort to lower the approval threshold for municipal bond measures would drastically alter the landscape for local government housing projects.
Housing California could borrow a record-breaking $35 billion to tackle the housing crisis. Will voters go along? By Ben Christopher | CalMatters | August 3, 2023 Three of the biggest housing bonds in state history are bound for the 2024 ballot.
Housing Some of California’s ‘cheapest’ cities have seen the biggest rent hikes By Ben Christopher | CalMatters | July 21, 2023 A surge in new inland residents that began in the pandemic has upended local housing markets.
Housing How the ‘builder’s remedy’ law has helped developers build more homes, faster By Ben Christopher | CalMatters | June 5, 2023 A new interpretation of a 1990 law gives homebuilders leverage over California cities and their zoning codes.
Housing California is losing population and building new houses By Ben Christopher | CalMatters | May 15, 2023 There are now more homes per person than there have been since at least 1991.
Housing A Bay Area homebuilder planned a project with union rules. Can it work anywhere else? By Ben Christopher | CalMatters | May 8, 2023 A builder in a wealthy Bay Area community agreed to a strict union-hiring standard to take advantage of a new housing law. Then it tried to change the deal.