Here's why the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, a low-tax advocacy group, seems intent on making Los Angeles' “mansion tax” the face of their statewide tax-capping ballot measure campaign. calmatters.org/housing/2025...

BREAKING: Immergut has *granted* Oregon and California's motion to block the new call-up of Guard troops to Portland. She says this effort to bring CA and TX troops to Oregon is in "direct contravention" of her oroginal order.

I spoke to a Venezuelan woman who was arrested in this raid and later released with her 4yo son. She said agents broke down their door, pointed guns at them and made sexualized remarks about Venezuelan women. When she returned to her apartment it was boarded up and all her possessions were gone.

One of my favorite anecdotes from THE PREHISTORY OF THE FAR SIDE: "That doesn't sound like the Jane Goodall we know."

So very excited to share that I’ll be writing about housing in Los Angeles and across California for Politico www.politico.com/blogs/politi...

The rules from the Department of Housing and Urban Development would allow major changes to public housing and Section 8 vouchers: - full-time work requirements - 2-year time limits - stripping aid from whole families if one member is in the country illegally www.propublica.org/article/trum...

Bit of a deep cut this Friday morning. How big is California‘s housing shortage anyway? calmatters.org/housing/2025...

Gotta appreciate the technological marvel of my phone robotically screaming that an earthquake is happening five seconds after I’ve woken up to my entire house shaking as a result of the earthquake that was very obviously happening

Damn! Only a 4.8 but basically at the Claremont Hotel Felt big! earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/...

Los Angeles' A line is now the longest light rail line in the world, if the Bay Area had something this long, it would run all the way from San Jose to San Francisco.

My editor's comments when I turn in 3k words on a story that's supposed to max out at 800. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

The end of an era for California reporting. Liam was doing this work before CalMatters even had a housing reporter. (In fact, it's possible CalMatters wouldn't even HAVE a housing reporter without Liam.) A sad day for the LA Times, but glad he's still in the game! We're all better off for his work.

LA Mayor Karen Bass is requesting a veto on transit-oriented development bill SB 79, which is headed to Gavin Newsom's desk: "While SB 79 allows for local ordinances as an alternative compliance, it does not provide a viable path for a pro-housing city like Los Angeles"

Update: The Assembly passed this last night and the Senate sent it to the governor in the wee hours of the morning. I, mercifully, was asleep. This news comes courtesy of my sleepless, ever-diligent colleague @jeannereporter.bsky.social

ICYMI Yesterday the California legislature passed a bill that paves the way for a highly targeted building boom around major urban public transit stops. calmatters.org/housing/2025...

The passage of this bill, nearly a decade in the making, slaps a symbolic bow on what has already been a banger of a year for controversial and ambitious housing production legislation in California. calmatters.org/housing/2025...

Oh, so that's why @asmlowenthal.bsky.social said "poopy" on the floor yesterday. I was so confused. www.politico.com/newsletters/...

Well that fizzled fast... State lawmakers have now shelved their efforts to reform L.A.'s "mansion tax." Mayor Bass said she asked State Senators to hold off and introduce an amended version of the bill next year. Details in my @laist.com story:

A deal that would have capped Los Angeles' ULA transfer tax under the condition that @prop13.bsky.social remove a proposed ballot measure aimed at making it harder for local govs to raise taxes is dead for the year. Statement from @senatorgonzalez.bsky.social and @asmtinamckinnor.bsky.social:

Deleted my earlier post that misstated the status of this bill. The Senate budget committee did kill it (for reasons totally unrelated to the story below, it seems), but I’m told the Assembly could still move with its version. Senate would then have to concur. So, in theory, still alive!

An eyebrow raising detail in this story by @levisu.bsky.social about rideshare drivers winning the right to unionize in California

Updated the story with a statement from the company that is developing the project that seems have been the subject of this legislation.

I'm working on a story for NPR on how high housing costs are causing some people to have fewer kids, or no kids, than they planned. Is this you and you're open to being in the story? Drop a line with a bit about your situation, where you live, + your phone number to [email protected]. Thanks!

A bill proposed Monday night, just days before the end of the legislative session, would punch a very small hole in a landmark housing law passed earlier this year that appears to apply to one (1) proposed apartment building in the incoming Senate leader's district. calmatters.org/politics/202...

"The ruling...means officers can rely on little more than a person being in the parking lot of a Home Depot and speaking Spanish to question someone about their immigration status." calmatters.org/justice/2025...

One of the year's most controversial housing bills (in a year full of extremely controversial housing bills!) is a big step closer to becoming law thanks to a last-minute deal between long-time political foes. calmatters.org/housing/2025...

Two years in, California's new and controversial CARE Court system is either a disappointing "total failure," a promising "work in progress" or a "reactionary political gambit" and "waste of money." Depends on who you ask. calmatters.org/health/menta...

Two insights from my month off with two wee kids: 1. Whoever invents a decongestant for pre-Kers will be the world's first trillionaire 2. You never know how many rubber bands are on the floor of your house until a baby with a penchant for putting things in her mouth (i.e. a baby) learns to crawl

This type of reporting is crucial for ensuring that public money is well spent and we can continue to hire and retain talented staff. Please consider a subscription to @oaklandside.org or any organization that does public corruption reporting

California lawmakers are preparing for a historic surge in federal funding for affordable housing construction, a tsunami of subsidy that advocates say could as much as double the number of low-rent units produced by the state over the next decade. It comes from an unlikely source.

Last year, the U.S. Supreme court made it harder for cities to stick new developments with impact fees. Are "inclusionary zoning" rules — one of the most common local affordable housing policies in the US — next? A new lawsuit is testing that theory: calmatters.org/housing/2025...

A quick read tracking the latest turn in the Sheetz case and why the foretold revolution in municipal budgeting and building fees across California is on hold for now. calmatters.org/housing/2025...

"A spokesperson for Gov. Gavin Newsom said he plans to issue an executive order Wednesday allowing local governments to limit the law’s application in high severity burn areas, which would include the Palisades, parts of Malibu and Altadena." laist.com/news/housing...

“You can have the most protective laws in the world, but if people are afraid to enforce those laws … it’s like for those people, those laws don’t exist" calmatters.org/housing/2025...

The national housing market is still stuck in a post-pandemic rut. But with higher prices, limited supply and a property tax regime that discourages sales, California homeowners have “have extra reasons to stay put,” said @hatethegamebook.com calmatters.org/housing/2025...

The lede in this story by @marisakendall.bsky.social calmatters.org/housing/home...

A horrifying statement published today by the Editorial Committee of the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency. "Without immediate intervention, the last reporters in Gaza will die" Translation from French to English by @cnorristrent.bsky.social:

From green icon to housing villain: The fall of California’s landmark environmental law.

On a related note, someone asked me last week to report on a development dispute in their town. Followed up over the weekend with an article he prompted chatGPT to write on the subject. He suggested I use it as "a good reference point," though he acknowledged that it includes hallucinated quotes.

KPBS stands to lose $4.3 million in federal funding that Republicans in Congress are clawing back. That’s 12% of our budget. If you like my reporting on housing, transportation and climate change in San Diego, please donate to help ensure I can keep doing it 🙏🏻 donate.kpbs.org/kpbs/donate?...

A new Lincoln Institute report shows how much more a new homeowner will owe in property taxes than someone who has owned for the avg duration in that city (based on median prices). Thanks to Prop. 13, California cities well represented at the top of the list. www.lincolninst.edu/publications...

Come for the mussel-sniffing dogs, stay for the major threat that invasive golden mussels pose to water supplies and lakes across the state. #CAwater calmatters.org/environment/...

New homeless point in time count numbers are out today. They show a decrease in the number of people living on the street, without shelter, in LA and San Jose. Both cities have launched aggressive campaigns to clear encampments and put people in shelter. tinyurl.com/45czm83r tinyurl.com/35w4f7mf

California — renowned for the unaffordability of its housing and its enduring homelessness crisis — is finally getting a standalone agency solely focused on housing and homelessness. What took so long? calmatters.org/housing/2025...

Why do so many of California's big housing battles come down to an enduring beef between different construction unions? @jeannereporter.bsky.social did the heavy lifting on this one: calmatters.org/politics/202...

Dune, where's my gom jabbar?

A decade-spanning political battle between housing developers and defenders of CEQA, California’s preeminent environmental law, came to an end this afternoon with only a smattering of “no” votes. The forces of housing won. calmatters.org/housing/2025...

On the 1 year anniversary of the Grants Pass Supreme Court ruling, we wanted to see how increased policing has changed life for homeless Californians. So we tracked down a few people who have been punished for camping over and over. @calmatters.org Here are their stories tinyurl.com/2bwhwzkj

Taken: LA immigration raids Masked men pull up quickly and approach Latino men. When someone runs, they’re taken. When they don’t answer a question, they’re taken. When they can’t produce papers, they’re taken.  calmatters.org/investigatio... @wendyfry.bsky.social @addonohue.bsky.social