THE AHLA BLOGS

Housing reformers have a complicated relationship with the California Legislature, arguably the nation’s second-most powerful legislative body after the United States Congress. Over the past five years, many of our state legislators have recognized that housing affordability and homelessness are statewide problems that require statewide solutions. Recent legislation, like Governor Jerry Brown’s “15 good bills” […]

It’s no secret that California is very bad at building enough homes for its people. But California is great at building lots of homes…for cars. This is because most cities require new homes, stores, and offices to provide on-site parking spaces. Typically, apartments must include one or two parking spots per home, and commercial properties […]

The harassment of tenants by unscrupulous landlords is a growing problem in Los Angeles. Although most evictions are banned right now due to the COVID-19 pandemic, housing advocates have reported increasing cases of landlords agitating or abusing their tenants in order to force them to vacate their residences. While this behavior is punishable by law […]

In the latest edition of our series, “Housing Across America”, we venture to Chicago to explore the city’s Transit Oriented Development (TOD) policy plan and its goal of encouraging denser housing growth near the ‘L’ (heavy rail) and Metra (commuter rail) lines.  Chicago launched its TOD density bonus program in 2013. The program upzoned parcels […]

July 1, 2029 was a special day for the Gomez family: it was the day they bought their first home. Both Miguel and his wife Veronica were lifelong Angelenos who had worked their way into the middle class — Miguel was an accountant at a firm downtown, and Veronica was a trauma nurse at UCLA […]