CEQA

Blog

Slow Times at Vallco Mall

Watch the 1980s classic film “Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” and you’ll see Sean Penn, Judge Reinhold, Phoebe Cates, Jennifer Jason Leigh and the gang hanging out at “Ridgemont Mall,” which was actually the Sherman Oaks Galleria. The “go to” mall for me growing up was Vallco Mall in Cupertino.  ...
Blog

Yes, It’s True. California Must Build A Lot More Housing to Close Gap

Finally, a state ranking where California isn’t last. In per capita housing supply, California is 49th. Only Utah has fewer housing units per 1,000 population, with 347. The Golden State: 358. The data are from McKinsey Global Institute’s 2016 report “A Tool Kit to Close California’s Housing Gap: 3.5 Million ...
Business & Economics

Joel Fox on PRI’s California Business Climate Survey

Survey:  Biz Execs Down on CA A survey of business executives in highly sought after industries such as clean tech and research & development conclude that California has a number of problems that prevent businesses from locating or expanding in the state. The Pacific Research Institute survey discovered that housing and real ...
Blog

California’s Housing Crisis Also Hurts Our Business Climate

When asked which factors influence their decisions about locating their businesses in California, the top concerns, according to a group of surveyed executives, are housing and real estate costs. No surprise, there. This state’s housing crunch is an enormous problem that threatens the future. The California business climate survey included ...
California

California, Poverty Capital

California—not Mississippi, New Mexico, or West Virginia—has the highest poverty rate in the United States. According to the Census Bureau’s Supplemental Poverty Measure—which accounts for the cost of housing, food, utilities, and clothing, and which includes noncash government assistance as a form of income—nearly one out of four Californians is ...
California

What California Should Do To Ease Housing Crisis

In September, Sacramento lawmakers passed more than a dozen bills aiming to begin healing the state’s housing sore. It was, to their thinking, “Housing Day” in California. Two weeks later, legislators joined Gov. Jerry Brown in San Francisco as he signed what he called “15 good bills.” “Today, California begins ...
Blog

Housing shortage goes from dire to desperate after wildfires

A few months ago, Tim Anaya and I interviewed for PRI’s podcast Farhad Zabihi, a math professor at the College of Marin, who had been house hunting for nearly a year in Marin County.  Marin is just south of Napa and Sonoma — two of the hardest hit counties in ...
Blog

How About CEQA Exemptions for All?

The California Environmental Quality Act is by far the most destructive of the causes that factor into California’s housing crisis. Its regulatory hurdles have sharply increased the cost of building, which has led to a severe shortage of homes that pushed prices to levels that many can’t afford. Even Gov. ...
Blog

Legislature Takes Two Steps Back on State’s Housing Crisis

California lawmakers can’t hide from the state’s housing crisis caused by a severe shortage of homes. They’ve even promised to do something about it. But a bill just signed into law last month indicates that the promise is likely to be hollow. Rather than lower government-imposed barriers to home building, ...
California

Will Sacramento Finally Restore California’s Housing Market?

Our Sacramento lawmakers are promising to finally do something about the state’s runaway housing crisis after they return from their August break. Will this finally be the year they take meaningful action? Not until they show that they understand the essence of the problem. There’s no disagreement that California has ...
Blog

Slow Times at Vallco Mall

Watch the 1980s classic film “Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” and you’ll see Sean Penn, Judge Reinhold, Phoebe Cates, Jennifer Jason Leigh and the gang hanging out at “Ridgemont Mall,” which was actually the Sherman Oaks Galleria. The “go to” mall for me growing up was Vallco Mall in Cupertino.  ...
Blog

Yes, It’s True. California Must Build A Lot More Housing to Close Gap

Finally, a state ranking where California isn’t last. In per capita housing supply, California is 49th. Only Utah has fewer housing units per 1,000 population, with 347. The Golden State: 358. The data are from McKinsey Global Institute’s 2016 report “A Tool Kit to Close California’s Housing Gap: 3.5 Million ...
Business & Economics

Joel Fox on PRI’s California Business Climate Survey

Survey:  Biz Execs Down on CA A survey of business executives in highly sought after industries such as clean tech and research & development conclude that California has a number of problems that prevent businesses from locating or expanding in the state. The Pacific Research Institute survey discovered that housing and real ...
Blog

California’s Housing Crisis Also Hurts Our Business Climate

When asked which factors influence their decisions about locating their businesses in California, the top concerns, according to a group of surveyed executives, are housing and real estate costs. No surprise, there. This state’s housing crunch is an enormous problem that threatens the future. The California business climate survey included ...
California

California, Poverty Capital

California—not Mississippi, New Mexico, or West Virginia—has the highest poverty rate in the United States. According to the Census Bureau’s Supplemental Poverty Measure—which accounts for the cost of housing, food, utilities, and clothing, and which includes noncash government assistance as a form of income—nearly one out of four Californians is ...
California

What California Should Do To Ease Housing Crisis

In September, Sacramento lawmakers passed more than a dozen bills aiming to begin healing the state’s housing sore. It was, to their thinking, “Housing Day” in California. Two weeks later, legislators joined Gov. Jerry Brown in San Francisco as he signed what he called “15 good bills.” “Today, California begins ...
Blog

Housing shortage goes from dire to desperate after wildfires

A few months ago, Tim Anaya and I interviewed for PRI’s podcast Farhad Zabihi, a math professor at the College of Marin, who had been house hunting for nearly a year in Marin County.  Marin is just south of Napa and Sonoma — two of the hardest hit counties in ...
Blog

How About CEQA Exemptions for All?

The California Environmental Quality Act is by far the most destructive of the causes that factor into California’s housing crisis. Its regulatory hurdles have sharply increased the cost of building, which has led to a severe shortage of homes that pushed prices to levels that many can’t afford. Even Gov. ...
Blog

Legislature Takes Two Steps Back on State’s Housing Crisis

California lawmakers can’t hide from the state’s housing crisis caused by a severe shortage of homes. They’ve even promised to do something about it. But a bill just signed into law last month indicates that the promise is likely to be hollow. Rather than lower government-imposed barriers to home building, ...
California

Will Sacramento Finally Restore California’s Housing Market?

Our Sacramento lawmakers are promising to finally do something about the state’s runaway housing crisis after they return from their August break. Will this finally be the year they take meaningful action? Not until they show that they understand the essence of the problem. There’s no disagreement that California has ...
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