Focus
Los Angeles homelessness rises sharply as housing crisis deepens
Reuters – June 4
Los Angeles County’s homeless population has swelled by 12 percent during the past year as a shortage of affordable housing deepens in and around America’s second-largest city, pushing more people into poverty, according to the latest annual census by the Los Angeles Homeless Service Authority, released on Tuesday. A major factor cited for the worsening situation was the rising cost of housing, coupled with wage stagnation at the lower end of the income spectrum that has led to a housing affordability crisis across Southern California. Nearly 22,000 people who were without a place to live were moved into permanent housing in 2018, up 23 percent from the year before, through efforts funded by a special voter-approved bond measure.
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News
San Diego City Council votes to terminate relationship with downtown planning agency
San Diego Union-Tribune – June 4
The City of San Diego has called for the permanent end to its controversial relationship with Civic San Diego as its downtown planning agency. This Tuesday, City Council members voted 5-2 to implement a settlement agreement that separates the two entities, effectively returning downtown land use decisions to the city and leaving Civic San Diego to stand alone as a public benefit company with a focus on community investment programs. The council’s sign-off is needed to put to bed two lawsuits that have challenged the agency’s alleged unchecked power over downtown construction projects. Per state law, the council will have to vote a second time on the matter with a final decision expected to take place on June 18 and the terms expected to take effect in July.
Companies expect climate change to cost them $1T in 5 years
Wired - June 4
A new report published Tuesday by CDP North America shows that 215 of the world’s biggest companies, including giants like Apple, JPMorgan Chase, Nestlé, and 3M, see climate change as a threat likely to affect their business within the next five years, with a cumulative cost of a trillion dollars. Companies identified a range of physical risks, such as the impact of flooding or rising sea levels on distribution centers and warehouses, as well as the costs of adapting to climate change, including updating facilities to withstand stronger storms or use less water. The CDP also found, however, that companies estimated opportunities related to climate change could bring in $2.1 trillion. Most companies pegged those benefits to the growth of low-emissions products and the creation of new products, such as new fuel sources or energy-efficient cars, which might appeal to an increasingly climate-conscious customer base
Why REITs and their investors are betting big on ESG
Bisnow - May 30
REITs are embracing ESG — environmental, social, and governance policies — as a set of best practices that can reshape the way they do business in the 2020s. There were $12 trillion in ESG-evaluated U.S. assets under management at the end of 2018 and $30.7 trillion worldwide, a 34 percent increase from 2016, according to the US SIF-Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investing. Boston Properties is one example of a REIT diving into ESG. Last year, among a large variety of sustainable initiatives it undertook, Boston Properties issued $1 billion of green bonds in an inaugural green bond offering that was two and a half times oversubscribed, with the proceeds used to fund eligible green projects.
Thousands of acres in LA County may see limited development
San Gabriel Valley Tribune – May 30
Several thousand acres in the Puente-Chino Hills and in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains are targeted for additional protections, affecting portions of Rowland Heights, Hacienda Heights, and the northern foothills of Altadena. Under a plan initially approved by the L.A. County Board of Supervisors earlier this week, two areas are to be deemed “Significant Ecological Areas,” which would require a biological assessment before any project is submitted to the county’s planning commission, with upfront protections for open space, wildlife habitat, and of 60 additional native trees.
Solar panels at its high schools should save Capistrano Unified School District millions over the next two decades
Orange County Register – June 4
Students asked Capistrano Unified School District leaders why they weren’t making use of solar power to be more energy efficient and fiscally responsible. When district officials looked at the numbers again – with the students looking over their shoulders – they agreed they should be. This spring, the district switched on the first system of solar panels that ultimately will be installed at all six of its high school campuses. The district had looked in the past at tapping solar power, but the financing and math previously had not worked out. But a new program for financing the $20.6 million installation through the sale of bonds was now available to the district. The bonds will be paid off with the money the district will save on electricity costs, which at full roll out is expected to be $849,000 a year and $21 million over 25 years.
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