Housing
Blog
Demystifying RHNA: A Guide for the Perplexed Californian
The state of California is in the midst of a Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) cycle. It happens every eight years, and with the sixth cycle currently underway, you’ve no doubt seen headlines about it. For the uninitiated, it probably seems like an alphabet soup of bureaucracy. What exactly is ...
Blog
When Public Policy Is Predatory
The same city that requires employers to pay workers at least $16.32 an hour, far more than twice the federal minimum wage, also limits how much some businesses can charge for their services. It’s enough to send some companies seeking relief from the court system. Two have done just that. ...
Blog
George Lucas, Reluctant YIMBY?
The wages of California city planning spare no man—not even George Lucas. As recently as late 2020, the filmmaker sued the California town of San Anselmo to clear up a “surveying error” that may revert a portion of his property to the heirs of its 1920s owners. It’s a trivial ...
Agriculture
Key Supreme Court ruling protects Californians’ private property rights
“I’m going to take this to the Supreme Court,” is almost always an empty, baseless threat generated by in-the-moment fury from someone who believes they were wronged. But sometimes cases get that far. Sometimes the offended party wins. And on occasion, that victory undergirds the framework of a free society. ...
Blog
Getting CEQA Out of the Way of Missing Middle Housing
California is in the grips of an unprecedented housing crisis, which has sent hundreds of thousands of Californians packing for affordable states like Arizona and Nevada. Here in Los Angeles, both home prices and homelessness have hit record highs, a sign of the ironic situation of the Golden State. At ...
Blog
CAPITAL IDEAS: Is This How California is Solving Its Housing Crisis?
DOWNLOAD PDF Not too terribly long ago, the Legislative Analyst’s Office said that to meet demand, each year the state needed 100,000 new housing units in addition to the 100,000 to 140,000 that are expected to be built annually, an impossibility in today’s political environment. But, intentional or not, policymakers ...
Agriculture
Progress in California Road Repairs Lagging Despite Gas Tax Hike
Four years ago, Will Kempton, then executive director of Transportation California and a former Caltrans director, said the state’s roads were “the worst I have seen.” A few months later, the state began collecting revenue from a $52 billion, 10-year fuel tax hike to raise enough revenue to bring up to date ...
Blog
Can Legislators Tame California’s Infamously High Impact Fees?
If you haven’t been living under a rock, you know that California is currently in the grips of a worsening housing affordability crisis. I take that back—if you’re living under a rock, you’re probably acutely aware of this fact. Before the pandemic, over half of all California renters spent more ...
Blog
6 Solutions to Encourage Family Growth in California
In addressing the nation’s falling fertility rates, many well-meaning pro-natalists advocate for cash incentives and higher tax credits for families with children. Countries with dismal fertility rates, such as Hungary, have introduced generous programs that include subsidies for minivans, a stipend for grandma, and interest-free marriage loans of $36,000 for ...
Blog
Newsom UBI Plan: Expanding Government Dependency Without Increasing Economic Empowerment
By Wayne Winegarden and Tim Anaya After hiring defeated Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs as a special advisor and flush with a $75.7 billion budget surplus, it was probably inevitable that universal basic income would be included in Gov. Newsom’s massive billion May Revise budget proposal. True to form, Newsom’s budget ...
Demystifying RHNA: A Guide for the Perplexed Californian
The state of California is in the midst of a Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) cycle. It happens every eight years, and with the sixth cycle currently underway, you’ve no doubt seen headlines about it. For the uninitiated, it probably seems like an alphabet soup of bureaucracy. What exactly is ...
When Public Policy Is Predatory
The same city that requires employers to pay workers at least $16.32 an hour, far more than twice the federal minimum wage, also limits how much some businesses can charge for their services. It’s enough to send some companies seeking relief from the court system. Two have done just that. ...
George Lucas, Reluctant YIMBY?
The wages of California city planning spare no man—not even George Lucas. As recently as late 2020, the filmmaker sued the California town of San Anselmo to clear up a “surveying error” that may revert a portion of his property to the heirs of its 1920s owners. It’s a trivial ...
Key Supreme Court ruling protects Californians’ private property rights
“I’m going to take this to the Supreme Court,” is almost always an empty, baseless threat generated by in-the-moment fury from someone who believes they were wronged. But sometimes cases get that far. Sometimes the offended party wins. And on occasion, that victory undergirds the framework of a free society. ...
Getting CEQA Out of the Way of Missing Middle Housing
California is in the grips of an unprecedented housing crisis, which has sent hundreds of thousands of Californians packing for affordable states like Arizona and Nevada. Here in Los Angeles, both home prices and homelessness have hit record highs, a sign of the ironic situation of the Golden State. At ...
CAPITAL IDEAS: Is This How California is Solving Its Housing Crisis?
DOWNLOAD PDF Not too terribly long ago, the Legislative Analyst’s Office said that to meet demand, each year the state needed 100,000 new housing units in addition to the 100,000 to 140,000 that are expected to be built annually, an impossibility in today’s political environment. But, intentional or not, policymakers ...
Progress in California Road Repairs Lagging Despite Gas Tax Hike
Four years ago, Will Kempton, then executive director of Transportation California and a former Caltrans director, said the state’s roads were “the worst I have seen.” A few months later, the state began collecting revenue from a $52 billion, 10-year fuel tax hike to raise enough revenue to bring up to date ...
Can Legislators Tame California’s Infamously High Impact Fees?
If you haven’t been living under a rock, you know that California is currently in the grips of a worsening housing affordability crisis. I take that back—if you’re living under a rock, you’re probably acutely aware of this fact. Before the pandemic, over half of all California renters spent more ...
6 Solutions to Encourage Family Growth in California
In addressing the nation’s falling fertility rates, many well-meaning pro-natalists advocate for cash incentives and higher tax credits for families with children. Countries with dismal fertility rates, such as Hungary, have introduced generous programs that include subsidies for minivans, a stipend for grandma, and interest-free marriage loans of $36,000 for ...
Newsom UBI Plan: Expanding Government Dependency Without Increasing Economic Empowerment
By Wayne Winegarden and Tim Anaya After hiring defeated Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs as a special advisor and flush with a $75.7 billion budget surplus, it was probably inevitable that universal basic income would be included in Gov. Newsom’s massive billion May Revise budget proposal. True to form, Newsom’s budget ...
