CaRLA News
The End of Single Family Zoning in San Francisco
Today, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance that will allow for all new single-family homes to be developed as duplexes, by including an accessory dwelling unit (ADU). Further, the ordinance would exempt ADUs added to existing single-family homes...
Calabasas Wants Housing for Cars, Not People
On May 23rd, 2019, California Renters Legal Advocacy & Education Fund filed suit to force Calabasas (in LA County) to follow state housing law. In January 2019, Calabasas City Council passed an ADU ordinance ostensibly to bring their code into compliance with...
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."...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...