San Francisco finds a new way to break the bank

By Mark Moses
10/18/2023
The City of San Francisco is reeling from rampant crime and facing a commercial real estate crash. Arguably, City policies have created both problems – the former, a result of lax law enforcement, and the latter, a consequence of the first, coupled with unfriendly business policies. Meanwhile, the City is facing a $489 million budget...

TAGS: Climate Action Plan, environmentalism, Housing, Public Bank, San Francisco, Zoning

Key Policy Issues Affecting the California Housing Crisis

By Chad Lonski
05/29/2019
Reluctance to Rezone Unused Retail Areas to Residential Pension liabilities at the civic level have led to public officials refusing to rezone obsolete commercial properties for conversion to residential use. Demand for commercial real estate space has diminished since the rise of digital commerce and the convenience of home delivery. Unfortunately, cities are fervently holding...

TAGS: CEQA, Housing, Zoning

California’s Unaffordable “Affordable” Housing

By Edward Ring
04/23/2019
When discussing the seemingly intractable and growing problem of homeless people living in California, journalists reporting on the issue don’t spend enough time questioning the numbers, much less the policies driving the insane numbers. A recent article in the San Jose Mercury provides a perfect example. The article gets off to a good start with a provocative, and very...

TAGS: affordable housing, economics, homelessness, Housing, Los Angeles, Sacramento, Zoning