Monterey County Housing Digest

The Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust recently paid almost $10 million for a 1.86-acre site formerly used for oil drilling. It could be converted into a community center, park and affordable housing.

A coyote recently was found at the $27 million Russian Hill home of AI mogul Sam Altman. This relates to a study, which found that coyote sightings were more frequent in higher-income areas of San Francisco.

Even though California is facing a crippling housing shortage, one potential source remains untapped. The state allows thousands of apartments used for part of the year by farmworkers to otherwise sit vacant for three to six months.

California energy regulators are considering requiring homeowners to replace broken air-conditioning systems with heat pumps or HVAC systems that are more energy efficient. The change would go into effect in 2026.

A 2021 state law has radically changed the housing equation in San Diego. Advocates, developers, and policymakers are split on whether it should be exported to other jurisdictions.

I’m part of a band of humans who call themselves nomads, except I’m a part-time digital nomad. The “part-time” is because I still have a house — a sticks-and-bricks, as the nomads call it.

In the wake of approximately 24 families facing evictions from a Pajaro apartment complex as the property's owners prepare to work through violations cited by Monterey County, Watsonville-based nonprofit Community Bridges has intervened to assist those families.

Redfin data shows that tens of thousands of more people look to leave California than buy homes in the Golden State. There’s an exception, however: the Sacramento region, which remains one of the hottest homebuying markets in the country.

Tiny homes are increasingly California cities’ shelter option of choice — but how far they go in solving homelessness is a contentious question.

A congressional bill would double the current capital gains exclusion. Some say this will help boost the inventory of homes for sale.

Drumroll, please … Butte is California’s bargain county. The least affordable counties were Santa Cruz, Monterey, Orange, San Diego and Alameda.

Community Housing Improvement Systems and Planning Association Inc., or CHISPA, has appointed Geoffrey Morgan as its new president and chief executive officer.

The CPUC is considering a rule that would gut the payments that solar panels on apartment buildings receive, and many housing groups are blazing mad about it.

A design-build-development company based in Santa Cruz, which has an established track record providing accessory dwelling unit plans for Central Coast cities, is doing it again, this time for Monterey County.

A patchwork of bills are giving housing developers and local governments more options to reduce red tape for housing projects.

A June budget deal required community colleges to raise their own money to build affordable student housing. Some campuses said that plan prevented them from building the dorms, even with help from the state to pay the debt.

The county of Monterey is partnering with the city of Salinas and Eden Housing to develop 132 affordable-rate units on a five-acre parcel.

Assemblymember Buffy Wicks proposed legislation to help get around a court's rejection of a UC Berkeley housing plan. But even if the law is approved, its fate is in the hands of the state Supreme Court.

Hans Johnson, an expert in domestic migration, housing, and population projections, explains the state’s population shift and how it’s impacted the housing market.

Gov. Gavin Newsom promised $95 million would help undocumented workers rebuild after winter storms and floods. Months later, $18 million is being doled out and there are translation issues with the state’s website.

Many local governments see voter majorities approve bond measures without reaching the two-thirds required. A new effort to reform that system would drastically improve the ability of local governments to fund housing and infrastructure projects.

The lack of enough places for everyone to live has sent coastal rent prices inland, removing large swaths of previously cheaper rental units.

For the first time, San Diego has surpassed San Francisco for average rental rates, making the All-American City the nation’s third-most expensive rental market, according to a Zillow report. But San Jose had the nation’s highest monthly rent with $3,411.

The complex, located east of Marina, consists of 66 affordable apartments. It is named after the CEO of the Community Housing Improvement Systems and Planning Association, who died unexpectedly in 2021.

On Wednesday afternoon Rancho Cielo held its Sustainable Home Build Open House.

Most of what Californians experience with homelessness occurs along public spaces and city streets. But what happens when a city council member loses her home? Ojai’s Suza Francina is finding out.

Community members came together to ask for the council’s support of Senate Bill 567, which would place some restrictions on landlords who want to evict their tenants because of remodeling.

Thousands of Californians who lost work during the pandemic are struggling with debt. A new settlement makes COVID rent relief available to tens of thousands of tenants.

Wildfires and expensive rebuilding wiped out their profits, California home insurers say. State Farm isn’t the first insurer to retreat from the state, and may not be the last.

California officials depend largely on residents filing complaints to find out about health and safety problems at mobile home parks. Here’s how to file a complaint.

Damon said the purchase and sale agreement is finished and approved, but the city has not yet closed escrow.

New numbers show that California added to its housing stock at a faster clip than any time since the Great Recession. Over that same period, the state’s population declined, marking the third year in a row that it’s fallen from one new year to the next. Does this mean the state’s perennial housing shortage could finally end? The long answer: “It’s complicated.”