ah yes, this old chestnut: "The latest push to become a charter city was started by a coalition of Atherton residents working on the town’s housing element, hoping to avoid some housing requirements imposed by the state." www.almanacnews.com/atherton/202...

Measure ULA* is here to stay for now. And so our state once again turns its eyes to the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association... calmatters.org/housing/2026...

Sometimes it takes a bit for national (or really, any) media to catch up with a story but now the New York Times is noting the video did not show Alex Pretti brandishing a gun as ICE has claimed. www.nytimes.com/live/2026/01...

L.A. politicians tried to stop SB 79, a state law allowing more apartments near transit stops. It passed anyway. But L.A. leaders aren't done fighting. Today the L.A. Metro Board of Directors voted to oppose local implementation. More details in my @laist.com story:

This morning Gov. Newsom is announcing the release of $419 million for local homelessness programming, funded back in 2024. But in the coming months, the Legislature will be fighting over the NEXT round of HHAP funding — and on the conditions that will come with it. calmatters.org/housing/home...

Gov. Gavin Newsom has threatened many times to withhold state homelessness funds from cities and counties that aren’t doing enough to get people off the streets. This year, those threats seem more real than ever. bit.ly/3Ljqu0l 📸 Jungho Kim

Holy hell, what an obituary

In a virtual press conference with affordable housing groups, @buffywicks.bsky.social: "I have been, since I got into the Legislature in 2018, almost a crazy woman when it comes to housing."

"Among the state’s 10 largest cities, only Los Angeles and San Francisco have wholly separate building and planning departments." Didn't know that! missionlocal.org/2026/01/s-f-...

An unlikely meeting of the minds of two political foes who, in a race to head off the electorate’s concerns about affordability, have landed upon the same populist message.

Gavin Newsom will go after Big Landlord in Thursday's State of the State address, report @frombenc.bsky.social and @jeannereporter.bsky.social:

Former reality television personality Spencer Pratt announced from the stage of a protest on the one-year anniversary of the LA wildfires that he’s running for mayor of Los Angeles. He didn’t take questions but I asked him if he actually submitted paperwork and he showed me

Horseshoe theory something something

“It turns out that mostly when people say ‘New York is noisy’ they really mean ‘cars are noisy.’” www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

I wonder if this is a phenomenon outside oil and gas where you find politicians taking, say, an anti-regulatory posture that may not be embraced by all, even most, members of the regulated industry. Literally not pro-business, but a pro-businessism aesthetic with a political signaling function.

Yes, as a nation we are bad at bringing up our children and the childless amongst us treat their dogs like the children they would bring up badly if they had them.

🧵 on a big new CA Court of Appeal decision that's going to make CEQA attorneys think twice when they're next asked to challenge a housing approval on contingency. threadreaderapp.com/thread/20065...

Sold razor blades to John Cleese while working as a drug store cashier in high school.

You are not going to believe how much I had to go out-of-pocket for targeted crab massage to treat my acute tummy ache (the doctor didn’t even wash her hands before administering!) But that’s American healthcare for you smh

Horrific www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

If true, the theory would rewrite the history of two legendary unsolved murders. An amateur sleuth claims he has cracked both the Black Dahlia and Zodiac cases — a claim experts say remains unproven but impossible to ignore.

For all the concerns that many pro-housing development advocates had about a President Pro Tem Limón, removing Wahab as Housing chair (albeit by giving her a top leadership spot) and replacing her with a YIMBY Arreguin (albeit a “born again” one) has got to do some assuaging.

Homeownership is, we're told, a benchmark of success, a milestone of responsible adulthood, the most viable way to amass wealth for you and your progeny and the white-picket-fence-fronted embodiment of the American Dream. What if it’s also a little overrated? calmatters.org/housing/2025...

You know things are bad when both the DA and Sheriff are concerned that their side is winning in court TOO much. Another great one by the great Anat Rubin: calmatters.org/investigatio...

It's often assumed, at least implicitly in a lot of housing coverage, that California is composed of 1) homeowners and 2) renters who aspire to own. I'm wondering how common renting-by-choice is. Anyone following me here fall into that category?

If you see this, repost with your model of positive masculinity

State lawmakers targeted a Santa Barbara development. Then came the fallout

California shut down its last coal plant last week and nobody even noticed, it made so little little difference. Meanwhile solar is up 17% and gas is down 17% from 2024. I have a few highlights... www.climatecoloredgoggles.com/p/ding-dong-...

Very fun read on the builder's remedy in California: "the land use equivalent of plutonium" www.nytimes.com/2025/11/20/b...

"For YIMBYs and other champions of more housing development, ditching the extra staircase has become a surprisingly buzzy cause. In Culver City, they have a test case." https://calmatters.org/housing/2025/11/ca-single-stair-culver-city/

I wrote about how Culver City became the first municipality in California (and likely the last for now) to ditch the ubiquitous two staircase requirement for mid-rises. As YIMBYs turn to impediments to construction beyond zoning, Culver City is an early test case. calmatters.org/housing/2025...

Clearly, this is the long con to take both your job and your wife! Wake up, Ben!

ChatGPT is apparently both pro-journalists using ChatGPT and pro-family.

You‘re treating yourself to a birthday trip to Mexico and you only have $170K (allegedly). How do you spend it? calmatters.org/politics/202...

Breaking: It’s a yes for Prop. 50. California voters approved the measure to temporarily suspend the state’s nonpartisan citizens redistricting commission until 2030. bit.ly/3WAJfhI 📝 @mayacmiller.bsky.social& @jeannereporter.bsky.social 📸 Ted Soqui

Senate Bill 79 makes it easier to build homes near major public transit stops. For opponents of rezoning, the only way to stop the prospect of apartments is to battle the bus. calmatters.org/housing/2025...

BREAKING: Ninth Circuit Court panel sides with Trump in Oregon National Guard case, staying Judge Immergut's original TRO. The two GOP-appointed judges decided on a stay. The Dem-appointed judge wrote a dissent. This isn't much of a surprise, given the questioning we saw during oral argument.

Notable finding in a new paper on how California cities have responded to AB 2097, which scrapped minimum parking requirements for housing developments near major transit stops. At least one city just ignored the law for housing near future, planned projects. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Grand Prairie, Texas, I was not familiar with your game.

But really, who doesn't love a good ugly cry on a Thursday morning calmatters.org/education/20...

“The Defense Department has confiscated the badges of the Pentagon reporters from virtually every major media organization in America,” the Pentagon Press Association said

Housing advocates who viewed SB79 as a potential sea change say it became diluted during the political process. The bill’s primary sponsor calls it a “a remarkably strong bill.”

Ben Metcalf @ternerhousing.bsky.social: "If costs come down and interest rates drop, you can imagine we’ve set the table for a building boom." calmatters.org/housing/2025...

After weeks of waiting, California's governor signed a bill that will allow mid-rise apartment buildings near major transit stops in California's biggest metro areas. https://cal.news/4n3hzge 📝 @frombenc.bsky.social 📸 Ray Chavez

Newsom signed SB79. calmatters.org/housing/2025...

Every single person in my feed: What's the deal with SB 79? Has Newsom signed SB 79? What is Newsom waiting for on SB 79? Newsom better veto SB 79! If Newsom doesn't sign SB 79 tonight I'm going to move to Canada. I'm launching a SB 79 shot clock widget SB 79 S!B 79 SB 79 Newsom:

In 2023, Los Altos Hills, a mansion-studded bedroom community above Silicon Valley, vowed to legalize some apartments at the north end of town. Now, facing a project that would include the town’s first-ever affordable housing, the town is having second thoughts. calmatters.org/housing/2025...

Los Altos Hills agreed to legalize some apartment buildings. Now, with a project proposed at Twin Oaks that would include the town’s first-ever affordable housing units, the wealthy Bay Area suburb is having second thoughts. https://cal.news/47hCdV6 📝 @frombenc.bsky.social