"How sky-high housing costs make California the poorest state"

San Francisco Chronicle | October 1, 2017

California leads the nation once again in a statistic no state wants to boast about. When the cost of living is factored in, the Golden State has the highest poverty rate in the country.

More than 20 percent of its residents struggle to make ends meet, according to recently released census figures. That’s nearly 8 million people.

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"Why Housing Is Unaffordable in California"

The Wall Street Journal | September 29, 2017

What could really help is deregulation, but residents aren’t likely to get it from Democratic lawmakers.

Democrats in Sacramento celebrated earlier this month when they passed a raft of bills intended to redress California’s so-called housing crisis. Sorry to spoil the party, but their legislation will do little to address the real problem and could even make things worse for poor and middle-income residents.

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"California Governor Signs into Law Major Reforms to Housing Accountability Act"

Holland and Knight | September 29, 2017

California Gov. Jerry Brown on Sept. 29, 2017, signed into law two bills – SB 167/AB 678 (Sen. Nancy Skinner/Assembly Member Raul Bocanegra) and AB 1515 (Assembly Member Tom Daly) – that significantly reform California’s Housing Accountability Act (HAA or Act), Cal. Gov. Code §65589.5. These reforms are among the most important of several housing bills signed by the Governor that the California State Legislature enacted in the closing days of the 2017 session.

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"Yes, You Can Build Your Way to Affordable Housing"

Sightline Institute | September 21, 2017

“San Francisco’s anti-developer politics have dug it into a self-perpetuating cycle of self-righteousness and displacement.”

“You can’t build your way out of a housing affordability problem.” That’s conventional wisdom. I hear it all the time: Prosperous, growing, tech-rich cities from Seattle to the Bay Area and from Austin to Boston are all gripped by soaring rents and home prices.

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"How Local Housing Regulations Smother the U.S. Economy"

New York Times | September 6, 2017

If you live in a coastal city like New York, Boston or San Francisco, you know that the cost of housing has skyrocketed. This housing crisis did not happen by chance: Increasingly restrictive land-use regulations in the last half-century contributed to it.

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"Tiny Homes, Big Goals"

The Bay City Beacon | September 6, 2017

To house an ever-larger homeless population, San Francisco may have to think smaller.

Amid a growing homelessness crisis, San Francisco does not have enough supportive housing to accommodate everyone who needs it.

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"Why Can’t We Get Cities Right?"

The New York Times | September 4, 2017

The waters are receding in Houston, and so, inevitably, is national interest. But Harvey will leave a huge amount of wreckage behind, some of it invisible. In particular, we don’t yet know just how much poison has been released by flooding of chemical plants, waste dumps, and more.

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"City chipmunks are happier, heavier and healthier than chipmunks in the wild, says researcher"

CBC News | August 30, 2017

Those chipmunks in your yard are survivors

The chipmunks in your yard might be healthier and happier than their counterparts in rural areas, says a Laurentian University researcher.

Albrecht Schulte-Hostedde, a Canada Research Chair in applied evolutionary ecology, said his recent paper published in Oxford University’s Behavioural Ecology, suggests that chipmunks in the city live a surprisingly different life than their relatives in the country.

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"Brad Pitt’s tiny home and other affordable space-saving miracles"

Inman | August 16, 2017

3 housing solutions that could impact global problems

Homelessness, lack of affordable housing, natural disaster damage — these are all global problems that can be alleviated through creative housing solutions.

Three types of homes that problem-solvers such as Brad Pitt and Patrick Kennedy are employing to help are tiny houses, micro-units and shipping container homes.

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"SF added jobs eight times faster than housing since 2010"

Curbed San Francisco | July 26, 2017

Meanwhile, rents are up 43 percent in ten years

If housing in San Francisco was as plentiful as data about housing in San Francisco, most renters would be on easy street.

The rental site ApartmentList crunched some census numbers in over 400 cities going back to 2005 to figure out, which metros kept up with construction relative to job growth and which ones were lying down on the job.

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