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Alhambra City Attorney gives a housing law presentation
The Alhambra City Attorney gives a presentation to the Alhambra City Council on the current and potentially future state housing laws. “I’m just the messenger,” he says, “these laws weren’t my ideas.”
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Vacaville Faces Off Against the Worst Person in Housing
In 2017 Michael Goolsby, an attorney specializing in preying upon victims of foreclosure, faced a career crisis. He had just been disbarred by the California Bar Association after repeatedly violating rules against practicing law unlicensed in other states. With his license revoked and no prospects of having it restored, Michael could no longer practice law
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Mall’d to Death
The Vallco Mall project in Cupertino, also called Vallco City Center, has become a flashpoint for pro-housing and anti-housing sentiment on the peninsula. The question over wether an empty mall will be allowed to become housing has inflamed tensions in Cupertino and become a test case for State housing law. The project was finally approved
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Housing Development in the New Era …
… The YIMBY Era! The League of Cities is holding a conference for City Attorneys May 8-10th. One of the sessions is called “Navigating Housing Development in the New Era,” and the “New Era” is the era of YIMBYism. Navigating Housing Development in the New EraPaperPowerPointSpeakers: Barbara Kautz, Partner, Goldfarb & Lipman
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Interesting Hearings Week of May 6th
MAY 8th, 1:30 pm, 375 Beale St.: The MTC Policy Subcomittee is considering the state wide streamlining/ pro-housing bills. Here is the agenda. Here is an 11 page summary of many of the housing bills before the state this year. MAY 10th, 9:15 am, 375 Beale St.: The Joint MTC and ABAG Policy Subcommittee is
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Exclusivity is a luxury amenity
The Fair Housing Act turned 50 last year, and the community of housing scholars and activists continue to reflect on the progress not made since segregation because officially illegal. The US Department of Housing and Urban Development recently held a symposium on the 50th anniversary of the FHA. You can read all of the papers
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Emergency Criteria for SB 330
*** Non-partisan legislative analysis *** One of the housing bills being considered this year is SB 330. This is an interesting bill because parts of it attempt to reduce local control over building and permitting in cities that have demonstrated their inability to permit sufficient housing, but how can the state tell that a city
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What’s happening in Lafayette?
Way back in 2015 we filed a lawsuit against Lafayette, CA in an effort to compel the city to allow O’Brien Homes to build 315 apartments. 4 years later, O’Brien is on the path to building these apartments, but Lafayette neighbors are still fighting. Currently they are arguing that because 5 years have passed since
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We have shirts!
Long before CaRLA was on the scene, there was the Bay Area Renters’ Federation. And then BARF got a shirt! And then they stopped printing them. And then CaRLA started printing them! And now, you can acquire one! They are locally sourced from Alliance Graphics, a union print shop based here in the bay area.
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California’s Undocumented Homes
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SB 35 is working!
Los Altos is a wealthy suburban enclave in the Northwestern part of Santa Clara county. It has a population of just under 30,000 people and is comprised primarily of low-rise single family neighborhoods. A small portion of the city, Downton Los Altos, is zoned for non-residential and multifamily residential uses, though these are still subject
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SB 50: What cities are covered now?
Every city, at least somewhat. Recent amendments to SB 50 have put cities into 3 different categories: 1) Cities with population less than 50,000 in counties with population less than 600,000. 2) Cities with population more than 50,000 in counties with population less than 600,000 3) Cities and towns in counties with population greater than
