Back in October, Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that would have allowed more cities, counties and school districts across the state to switch to a ranked-choice voting system. The bill, Senate Bill 212 (SB 212), was overwhelmingly approved by both the state Senate and the Assembly. In a ranked-choice voting system, voters rank candidates […]

In late April the San Diego City Council unanimously approved legislation to sharply decrease fees to build granny flats, which are often nearly equal to construction costs. The objective is to help with the severe local shortage of affordable housing by increasing construction of more granny flats. Granny flats are additional housing units on an […]

The economy in the Bay Area is booming, yet for people under the age of 40 and for renters, there is a high chance that they don’t travel or go out to eat much, and they probably have to cut back on groceries. Where is most of their money going to? According to a five-county […]

Apparently, Silicon Valley is experiencing a new shortage of high-end homes that is finally affecting wealthy homebuyers. According to real estate website Trulia, there were 42 percent fewer premium homes available in San Jose in December than during the same time last year. This is causing experts to believe that the disappearance of those high-end […]

An unfortunate thing is happening in the Bay Area, RVs are starting to become the home of last resort for some people. Bay Area cities have seen an increase in the number of RVs out in the streets and this has caused them to seek a solution to this problem. Many Bay Area cities are […]

In late August, the San Jose City Council approved a one-year pilot program, after over a year of debate, to build up to three “tiny home” villages for the homeless. However, there has been no consensus as to where the unconventional homeless housing will be placed. City leaders on Monday unveiled two designs for the […]

In San Francisco and Oakland, tents are a symbol of the homeless problem. But in the Peninsula and South Bay, from Palo Alto to Mountain View to Gilroy, RVs have become that symbol. On El Camino Real this year, right alongside Stanford University, about 50 RVs and trailers have been parked bumper to bumper. According […]

There is some good news and bad news for first time home buyers in the Bay Area. The good news is that there are more starter homes coming to market across the region. The second quarter saw increases in starter homes by 10.9 percent in Oakland, 24.1 percent in San Jose and 26.1 percent in […]

There are a growing number of outdoor areas where homeless people without shelter are living in filthy conditions with no sanitation, which is a public health hazard. So far this year alone, there have been almost half a dozen fires at homeless tent camps, which is a safety hazard that is somewhat reminiscent of the […]

According to a recent Housing and Community Development Department report on housing construction in Oakland, only two percent of the thousands of building permits approved last year were for affordable housing. In 2015, only 16 percent of the 771 building permits that were issued were affordable for low-income residents. Last year, the city changed rules […]