For me, the path to my passion about housing was really economics. In school, I was great at math, but it didn’t feel relevant. I also wanted action. So I specialized in consumer economics, which is the study of finance…
California Progressivism is Just Getting Started
Anyone unfortunate enough to spend time watching Fox News will come to discover that Berkeley, Calif. is the right-wing’s favorite toponym for progressivism. It’s nothing new; for decades Berkeley has been a favorite epithet for Republicans looking to tar some…
The Housing Crisis Primed California’s COVID19 Tragedy
When COVID-19 began surging in California in late November, the pandemic was attacking an already sick patient. Despite the state being an early adopter of mask-mandates and social distancing rules, California is the center of America’s COVID-19 tragedy. Between mid-December…
Location, Location, Location: Winning (and Losing) the Housing – Transit Lottery
Do people have innate transportation preferences that they express independently of their living conditions, or does the built environment of our neighborhoods influence those preferences? New evidence from researchers at UCLA and UC Santa Cruz analyzed data from San Francisco’s…
Two Great Tastes, Taste Great Together: How Social Housing Closes the Gap
Can California learn from robust public housing development models around the world to fix its long-standing housing crisis? The Oakland-based advocacy group East Bay For Everyone (EB4E) has some ideas in a new paper. Key takeaways: The volatile business cycle…
Black Housing Heroes: Jon Wizard
I was appointed to Monterey County’s planning commission in 2017. Through my initial interest in housing, I found an incredible community of people who are fighting to improve our communities and make them more inclusive. The housing crisis is a…
Institutional Investors in California Housing Markets
TL;DR: Following the Global Financial Crisis of 2007-2008, large institutional investors, such as the private equity firm Blackstone, purchased foreclosed homes in distressed neighborhoods throughout the country. Many of these neighborhoods were the same historically Black and Latino neighborhoods that…
California YIMBY Joins Asm. Laura Friedman to End Costly Parking Mandates
“Affordable Housing for Humans, Not Unaffordable Parking for Cars” Mandates Add Up to $80,000 Per Parking Spot to Cost of Housing, Rent “200 Square Mile Parking Crater” SACRAMENTO – Today, California YIMBY and Assemblymember Laura Friedman (D-Glendale), along with Sen.…
California YIMBY Joins Sen. Wiener to Launch 2021 Legislative Housing Package
Statewide Housing Advocates, Equity Leaders Join the Call for More Homes SACRAMENTO – Today California YIMBY joined State Senator Scott Wiener (San Francisco), along with housing and equity advocates from across the state, in launching a package of bills in…
Did Displacement Play a Role in California’s COVID-19 Surge?
For the past two months, Southern California was America’s COVID-19 epicenter. Throughout the month of January, someone in Los Angeles County died every six minutes from COVID-19 related complications. The pandemic ravaged the Los Angeles area to such a degree that air-quality…