Tahoe Truckee Region Housing Digest

On June 11, Solano County elections officials announced the verification of necessary signatures for the California Forever sponsored initiative to amend the county General Plan to be on the November ballot.

A panel at the CalMatters Ideas Festival debates how to reduce homelessness without punishing poverty. There’s worry about a potential $1 billion cut in state funding.

On June 6, the Solano Land Trust announced its opposition to the California Forever project to build a new community housing up to 400,000 people in the county.

These community projects can give renters and low-income homeowners a chance to go solar, but the PUC’s action is unlikely to give them the option.

Tenants in many new privately owned, low-income units will be protected from double-digit increases. So will some in existing units, after a state committee on affordable housing imposed a rent cap.

The University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources advisors has published a new website with information resources for small acreage landowners raising livestock.

No issue matters more to Californians than housing and homelessness. Catch up on where the major Senate candidates stand on the subject.

As agents hunt for business in Southern California's slow real estate market, some are trying out new ways of tracking down leads. Others are quitting the industry.

California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta announced consumer tools to help tenants and landlords understand how much rent can rise under a state law.

The term “unsubsidized 100% affordable project” was once an oxymoron. Under Mayor Karen Bass, Los Angeles is now approving them by the hundreds.

States are plowing billions of dollars into a high-stakes health care experiment that’s exploding around the country: using scarce public health insurance money to provide housing for the poorest and sickest Americans.

On Jan. 31, dozens of cities and counties are expected to convert thousands of suburban-style tracts into apartment-ready parcels. Will the state hold them to it?

State officials hope a lottery and an emphasis on first-generation homebuyers will make California’s most generous down payment assistance program more equitable.

California state law dictates that property owners are responsible for repairing damaged sidewalks. In Sacramento, this has left some owners facing bills of thousands of dollars or tax assessments from the city.

New law is meant to help nursing home residents understand the reasons for their discharge, and inform them of their rights to appeal.

María Vela’s family has lived in East L.A. nearly 30 years, but new owners of her duplex asked her family to vacate by Christmas. Most evictions are due to nonpayment of rent, but owner move-ins also cause family displacement.

Federal funding for domestic violence shelters and housing programs is declining. Advocates want the state to step in, but with a record projected deficit new spending is unlikely.

Federal judge David O. Carter has declined to dismiss a lawsuit that could force the Veterans Administration to house veterans experiencing homelessness in the Los Angeles area. Carter’s 41-page ruling could pave the way for a trial in mid-2024.

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.

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.

This year, with the help of sponsors, donors, and attendees of its Street of Dreams fundraiser, Nevada County Habitat For Humanity raised more than $100,000.

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

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

Locals for Affordable Housing aims to place a voter initiative on the November 2024 ballot modeled after Berkeley’s vacancy tax, which requires owners of homes that sit vacant more than six months to pay $3,000 for the first year and $6,000 every year after.

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.

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.