Every week, we round up the biggest housing news for the AHLA newsletter (subscribe here) and share them to the blog.
The biggest news here in California was the Superior Court’s ruling that UC Berkeley had failed to sufficiently analyze potential noise impacts of the dorm they want to build on so-called People’s Park. The ruling, which essentially states that college students are pollution, provoked immediate backlash from state lawmakers, who introduced a bill to exempt noise and population impacts from CEQA, and Governor Newsom, who called out “NIMBYs who weaponize CEQA” and promised to reform the Reagan-era law.
Here in LA, an investigation found that the survey used to determine which homeless residents would be prioritized for housing placement consistently gave higher scores to white applicants than Latino and Black applicants. The County Board of Supervisors also voted to require seismic retrofits for the kind of non-ductile concrete buildings that collapsed during earthquakes in Turkey and Syria.
Down south, the San Diego city council voted to approve taller buildings and more ADUs within a mile of transit, up from half a mile, and Orange County landlords are suing to block tenant protections. Up in Sacramento, SF Assemblymember Matt Haney introduced a bill to streamline office to housing conversions by making them by-right so long as they include 10% affordable units.
Nationally, home prices are slightly down from their June peak and the Niskanen center released a report outlining an “abundant housing agenda.”
