San Benito County Housing Articles

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.

‘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.

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.

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.

The City of Hollister is working on an inclusionary housing ordinance that could require future residential developers to make up to 20% of their projects affordable under state guidelines. A draft ordinance, produced under the council’s previous direction, was presented …

Gilroy has updated its draft housing element, a document that describes the city’s housing goals and programs for the next eight years, after a letter from a state agency stated it needed more information to be considered compliant. The Gilroy …

For the past four years I have participated at some level with California State legislative bills, first as an advocate and now as an elected official. I have spent hours listening, reading legislative files, all while writing letters of support …

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 …

San Benito County and global architecture firm CallisonRTKL are promoting the construction of Accessory Dwelling Units on local properties, according to the county’s Resource Management Agency. As part of this effort, the county and CallisonRTKL have produced and released pre-approved …

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?

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.

The San Benito County Board of Supervisors narrowly rejected the 141-home Lee Subdivision residential project that has been proposed in southeast Hollister. The board voted 3-2 at the Feb. 7 meeting to deny the project. The agenda item was an …

San Benito County took a step forward Jan. 17 when the Board of Supervisors approved an updated Affordable Housing Ordinance, but that step forward should be even bolder. Supervisors unanimously approved an update to the ordinance after months of meetings …

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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