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Sacramento County Housing Articles



Image caption: Gov. Gavin Newsom and top legislators say they have a deal on the new California budget. But who's in and who's out?
New California Budget Deal: What You Need to Know

After weeks of negotiations, the governor and top Democrats in the Legislature say they have a budget deal. Legislators will start voting today on bills related to the agreement, which sets spending and policy across a wide range of issues …

Image caption: Zoning for single family homes is at the heart of numerous urban and social problems.
Should Zoning Laws Be Abolished?

Zoning laws that restrict new housing development cause environmental damage, racial and class segregation, and force people into cars creating traffic. Now, a new movement wants to abolish zoning in the United States.

Image caption: Zoning laws tell you what you can and can't build on the property you own. How does government get away with that?
How Zoning Laws Shape California and Society

Zoning laws determine what can be built and where. These laws have shaped California, but are they really just tools for social engineering? The history of zoning is closely tied to racial segregation, as well as the state's shortage of …

Image caption: Renters face an uphill battle but have made at least legislative gains recently.
California Renters’ Rights: Tenant Advocates Make Some Advances

As groups representing landlords and real estate pour millions of dollars into political coffers to influence housing policy, tenant groups are celebrating recent victories.

Image caption: What happens if the state constitution gives everyone a basic right to housing?
Voters May Make Housing a Human Right in CA

More than 170,000 people are homeless in California. Some Democrats want to make the state the nation’s first to declare housing a human right with a state constitutional amendment, but opponents worry it would be costly.

Image caption: Gavin Newsom (l) has lashed out at Florida Gov. and GOP Presidential candidate Ron DeSantis (r).
Newsom Wants DeSantis Charged With Kidnapping Migrants

‘You small, pathetic man,’ Gavin Newsom wrote in a Twitter post suggesting he’d pursue criminal charges against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over recent migrant flights to Sacramento.

Image caption: In what appears to be a power play that worked, a developer proposed building 14 residential highrises with a combined 4,260 units in Santa Monica.
How California Developers Twist Affordable Housing Laws

A new interpretation of an old law gives homebuilders leverage over California cities and their zoning codes. They’re using it to push through thousands of new apartments around the state.

Image caption: Senate Bill 584 would hit short-term rentals with a new, 15 percent tax.
New Tax on Airbnb Could Fund CA Affordable Housing

A bill to tax Airbnb and other short-term rentals to fund affordable housing projects could be voted on by the Senate as soon as today. The proposal has revived the debate over Airbnb and its role in the housing crisis.

Image caption: New housing construction in the Crocker Village neighborhood in Sacramento on Feb. 10, 2022.
CEQA Must be Changed

By almost any measure, the balance between advancing projects critical to California's future and environmental protection under the California Environmental Quality Act has been lost. The failure to reform CEQA is not for a lack of knowing what the solutions …

Image caption: The future of malls looks like one where the rich get richer while lower-end malls simply die out.
Mall Culture and the American Dream

Shopping malls revolutionized how Americans shopped, socialized, and lived. Now, malls face an uncertain future. How did the dream of a new town square go so wrong?

Image caption: Suburbia has become a defining feature of the California landscape. But what does the word really mean?
How the Suburbs Shaped America, and California Shaped the Suburbs

America has become a mostly suburban country, and California is known for its sprawling ’burbs. But what is a suburb? It turns out California may not be as suburban as people believe.

Image caption: Explaining California is hard work! But at California Local, we were up for it throughout 2022.
Explaining California in 2022: Our 10 Best Explainers of the Year

2022 was a year that needed a lot of explaining. And California Local was there. Here are our 10 most important explanatory journalism stories from the year gone by, from immigration to cryptocurrency to wealth inequality and more.

Image caption: Businessman and Republican activist Howard Jarvis was the main advocate for Prop 13 in the 1970s.
How Prop 13 Drives Economic and Racial Inequality

Proposition 13, the popular tax reform law passed in 1978, has driven increases in economic inequality and racial wealth disparities in California. Here’s how.

Image caption: Owning homes is the primary way the middle class builds wealth, and an option no longer available to most Californians.
Is California’s Housing Crisis Making Inequality Worse?

California has some of the worst economic inequality in the United States. Is the housing crisis a cause?

Image caption: The state's housing crisis drags on, but 2 new laws aim to ease the dire situation.
SB 6 and AB 2011: 2 New Bills Try to Turn the Tide on Housing Crisis

In an attempt to slow California's housing crisis, Gov. Gavin Newsom signs pair of bills, SB 6 and AB 2011, that will allow development where now-closed businesses once stood, without rezoning those areas for residential projects.

Image caption: Dogs and cats will no longer be subject to cruel toxicity testing in California, under a new law.
California’s New Slate of Animal Welfare Laws

New laws banning toxicity testing on dogs and cats, and making rental housing more pet friendly are among a slate of new animal welfare legislation signed by Gov. Newsom in September.

Image caption: It may not seem like it, but California has too many parking spaces.
New Housing and Climate Law Cuts Back on Parking Spaces

There's too much parking! Why a new law, AB 2097, cutting back on parking space requirements in new housing and business developments could be a game changer for the climate, and the housing crisis.

Image caption: Thousands of homeowners have been kicked off their fire insurance policies.
California Fire Insurance Crisis: How the State Helps Homeowners

As California insurance companies have revoked the fire policies of thousands of homeowners, the state has taken steps to get them covered again.

Image caption: An affordable housing complex being built in Santa Cruz County.
A Real Solution to the Housing Crisis

Gov. Newsom and the state legislature should consider allocating $40 billion of the state's $97 billion surplus to subsidize the building of low-income housing.

Featured

Lighthouse Field in Santa Cruz, which might be a huge resort if not for the Coastal Commission.
The Public Shore Protectors
Born amid controversy, this public agency is responsible for managing some of the most precious real estate in the world.
Thousands of homeowners have been kicked off their fire insurance policies.
California Fire Insurance Crisis: How the State Helps Homeowners
The state tries persuading insurance companies to cover homes in fire zones.
Owning homes is the primary way the middle class builds wealth, and an option no longer available to most Californians.
Is California’s Housing Crisis Making Inequality Worse?
California has some of the worst economic inequality in the United States. Is housing a cause? Could it be a cure?
Zoning laws tell you what you can and can't build on the property you own. How does government get away with that?
How Zoning Laws Shape California and Society
Zoning is everywhere, but is it a way to regulate development or a tool for social engineering?
Does California’s signature environmental law protect the state’s scenic beauty, or cause more problems than it solves?
CEQA: The Surprising Story of CA’s Key Environmental Law
54-year-old environmental law is often blamed for causing the state’s housing crisis. Is it getting a bad rap?
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