News
Governor Newsom reveals new plan to tackle California heat waves
 Courthouse News Service – April 28
As California faces rising temperatures and more frequent, deadly heatwaves, Governor Newsom released an Extreme Heat Action Plan (EHAP) last Thursday, a year after passing an $800 million budget for heat resilience. Now, $300 million is allocated for the action plan, which covers a variety of communities, businesses, and environments from California’s agricultural laborers to using cooling, porous building materials. Energy efficiency and sustainable building practices are the backbones of the EHAP.
New California program could help first-time homebuyers
The Mercury News – May 1
Seeking to chip away at an ambitious goal of boosting home ownership in California, the state has launched a new program of forgivable loans for first-time homebuyers. The program, Forgivable Equity Builder Loan, allows qualified, first-time buyers to borrow up to 10% of a home’s purchase price and have the debt forgiven if the buyer lives in the home for five years. The loans are available to middle-income families making less than 80% of their county’s annual median income.
Millbrae considers restrictions to California’s recent duplex law (SB 9)
The San Mateo Daily Journal – April 28
New housing built in the City of Millbrae under recent SB 9, allowing duplexes in single-family neighborhoods, may soon need to adhere to strict guidelines capping size and imposing various design standards. The potential City rules, aimed at the controversial SB 9 that took effect this year, were discussed by the City Council this week. The City Council will likely also include affordability provisions, part of an emergency ordinance the council passed last year, that will require at least one of the new units go to a low-income resident.
Zero-emission truck trial approved for California ports
Transport Topics – April 26
Long Beach harbor commissioners on April 25 approved an agreement — hailed as groundbreaking — that will deploy 100 battery-electric trucks to the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. The deployment is key as the ports press ahead on reaching a 2035 goal of an entirely zero-emission truck fleet.
Converting strip malls into mixed-use development could address California’s housing crisis
Smart Cities Dive – April 27
Converting empty or underutilized strip malls and shopping centers into mixed-use residential and retail developments could help solve California’s housing shortage crisis and allow stores to stay afloat amid the shift to online shopping, said housing experts and industry leaders during a panel at the Urban Land Institute’s spring meeting last week in San Diego. About 40% of the commercial zones in the zoning codes of California’s 50 largest jurisdictions do not allow residential development in commercial areas, according to a November report from UC Berkeley’s Terner Center for Housing Innovation.
|