Yolo County Housing Digest

The Davis City Council talked about the creation of an environmental impact report for the Village Farms development, a project created to combat the local housing crisis.

On Oct. 25, the Yolo County Housing Commission honored Yolo County Housing Authority employees who have been with the agency for a decade or more. Of the agency's 42 current employees, 16 were recognized.

The city of Davis is at risk of being faced with legal action from the state of California due to the city’s failure to adopt a realistic housing development plan.

The redeveloped complex was designed to provide affordable housing for UC Davis students and meet the housing needs of students with families.

Winters Planning Commissioner Lisa Baker was one of three recipients recognized at the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials Outstanding Professional of the Year award.

The city of Davis has twice failed to get its Housing Element approved by the California Department of Housing and Community Development. In September, the city received another “Notice of Violation” from HCD about a draft submitted way back in February.

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

The Sacramento City Council will hold a public hearing on plans to build 1,106 new homes near a South Sacramento light rail station.

Governor Gavin Newsom made history by signing Senator Aisha Wahab’s Stable Affordable Housing Act, making California the first state to explore the intersection of long-term affordability and state-supported housing.

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.

Walnut Lane 10, a subdivision in Winters with 54 lots, has taken one step closer to being ready for occupation.

The first shoe has now fallen in Davis—now the question will be what will come of it.

Lost in the madness of yet another bomb threat was an important discussion that took place at the city council meeting Sept. 19 when Councilmember Bapu Vaitla pulled the consent item on the Village Farms EIR.

Councilmember Bapu Vaitla pulled the consent item on the EIR contract for Village Farms to discuss additional evaluations of a more dense alternative. Councilmember Vaitla noted that there are seven alternative project alternative scenarios that are considered eventually in the scope of services.

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.

Caesar LaVey’s 267-square-foot apartment is tucked inside a sleek five-story building called Sonrisa, a new affordable housing community two blocks from the state Capitol in downtown Sacramento.

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.

Housing co-ops—or democratically controlled corporations that are established to provide affordable housing for its members—are popular in Davis, with Turtle House being a notable example.

The university celebrated the opening of its new Orchard Park neighborhood with 1,500 beds in apartments. Part of the most ambitious housing construction program at UC Davis, this $330 million project has helped the campus exceed a 2023 milestone.

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.

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 Sacramento Bee has created an interactive map showing how the housing market has slowed in most California counties. While the real estate market was peaking at this time last year, things have changed, with El Dorado County experiencing the largest drop-off.

California lawmakers thought they cracked the code last year on a construction union stalemate holding up housing bills. But rifts within labor could reignite the war over how best to craft affordable housing policy.

Sen. Scott Wiener wants to expand and extend SB 35, which forces cities to approve certain developments with affordable units.

Low wages, high interest rates, and soaring prices make area homes affordable for only a fraction of workers, a study shows.

A Sacramento Area Council of Governments pilot program called Green Means Go identifies areas called “Green Zones” in the six-county Sacramento region and then makes efforts to increase infill housing where services already exist while also improving access to alternative modes of transportation.

A recent study by CoStar Analytics found nearly 1,000 affordable or rent-controlled units are under construction in the Sacramento region, the highest number since 2015. But that’s only a fraction of more than 5,000 total homes.

Under a new state law, counties must purge property records of language that once banned people of color from buying homes. While the covenants were made unenforceable in 1948, racial justice advocates say the law confronts the state’s history of discrimination.