News
Bill that bans many residential parking mandates near transit heads to Newsom
The Center Square – August 30
California lawmakers sent a bill to Governor Gavin Newsom’s desk Tuesday that will cut back on minimum parking requirements for new development near public transit, a measure supporters say will reduce the cost of housing production by tens of thousands of dollars. AB 2097 would prohibit local governments in many scenarios from enforcing minimum parking requirements on residential or commercial development if it is located within half a mile of a major transit stop.
Newsom signs Portantino bill creating Pasadena-Glendale-Burbank affordable housing trust
Pasadena Star-News – August 24
A $23 million trust fund intended to boost the construction of affordable housing in Pasadena, Glendale, and Burbank will be created following the approval of Senate Bill 1177 this week. SB 1177 was authored by Sen. Anthony Portantino to address the insufficient local funding that prevents Burbank, Glendale, and Pasadena from completing the nearly 3,000 affordable housing units that are in their “development pipeline,” Portantino said in a statement this week.
L.A. City Council votes to incentivize affordable housing in wealthier areas
NBC Los Angeles – August 26
In an effort to create more affordable housing in higher resource neighborhoods, the Los Angeles City Council called last Friday for preparation of an ordinance that would incentivize affordable housing projects in such areas. Only 14% of the affordable housing units approved in the last decade in Los Angeles were located within high-resource neighborhoods, while 86% were in neighborhoods deemed low-resource and high-poverty.
Santa Rosa becomes the largest U.S. city to ban new gas stations
The Press-Democrat – August 23
Santa Rosa became the largest city in the nation to ban new gas stations last Tuesday. The City Council voted 6-0 to ban construction of gas stations and expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure at existing gas stations within city limits. The new rules will not close existing gas stations, but it will put some limits on current operators.
Increasing housing shortages across the U.S.
Urban Land – August 23
The U.S. housing affordability crisis has both sharpened and spread significantly in the last decade: once largely confined to the coasts and the Southwest, it now extends to nearly every state. The number of metropolitan areas that underproduced housing rose from 100 to 169 between 2012 and 2019. Nationally, underproduction nearly doubled in the same time period, from 1.65 to 3.79 million units, according to a recent report “Housing Underproduction in the U.S.” by Up for Growth, a Washington-based nonprofit research and policy organization.
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