Focus
Google puts up $1 billion to fight housing crisis in its Bay Area backyard
San Francisco Chronicle – June 18
Google announced on Tuesday that, over the next decade, it will establish a $250 million investment fund to help finance 5,000 affordable housing units close to its offices and near transportation hubs. The company is also giving $50 million in grants to nonprofits focused on homelessness and displacement. As part of the investment, Google said it would ask local governments to rezone for housing some land it owns that is currently dedicated for office or commercial uses, with the goal of building at least 15,000 residential units.
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News
Southern California cities cite 'chaos' in rejecting state push for more housing
Los Angeles Times – June 18
This month, a public agency representing 19 million residents in Los Angeles County and five neighboring counties voted to sharply restrict the amount of residential building in the region. The Southern California Assn. of Governments, which encompasses half the state’s population, has agreed to zone for the development of 430,000 new homes through 2029, a number that in effect would make Governor Gavin Newsom’s campaign pledge of building of 3.5 million new homes across California impossible to accomplish. Though the Newsom administration ultimately has the power to determine how many new homes local governments in Southern California must plan for, advocates worry that the region’s resistance is a signal that the home building called for by the state will never happen.
Electrification of transportation and buildings to drive $13.3 trillion in new investment: BNEF
Microgrid Knowledge - June 18
Demand for electricity will increase 62 percent though 2050, driving $13.3 trillion in new investment, as the world increasingly pursues electrification of buildings and transportation, according to a new report by BloombergNEF (BNEF). For the first time in its annual outlook, BNEF considers a world where electricity provides 100 percent of the energy for transportation and residential buildings. To meet the 100 percent electrification goal, three times more generation would need to be installed in 2050 than what is available today.
L.A. County bans discrimination against Section 8 tenants
NBC Los Angeles - June 19
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday formally adopted an ordinance banning landlords in unincorporated areas from discriminating against would-be tenants with government-issued housing vouchers or other rental subsidies. As the county struggles to find housing for the nearly 60,000 Angelenos without a permanent roof over their heads, policymakers are butting heads with landlords who don't want to take Section 8 vouchers. Federal Section 8 housing vouchers are provided to low-income tenants and pay a rental subsidy to landlords to make up for the difference between what the tenant can afford and market rates. Despite the prohibitions against discrimination laid out in the 1968 Fair Housing Act, the vouchers are denied by Los Angeles County landlords 76 percent of the time, according to a 2018 survey by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Nation’s first hydrogen fuel cell ferry to transport commuters across San Francisco Bay in early 2020
Enterprise-Record – June 12
SW/TCH, a New York-based investment company, announced Wednesday that it would be the first to test a ferry powered with hydrogen fuel, known as the “Water-Go-Round,” in commercial commuter service, beginning as early as 2020. The plan is to partner with large employers to offer a pollution-free alternative to gas-guzzling shuttles. The Water-Go-Round is just the start of what the boat’s designers hope will be a proliferation of hydrogen fuel cell technology on the water.
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