THREAD: Los Angeles is known for sunshine and sprawl. But for the past three decades L.A. has been the most housing overcrowded large county in America. In the pandemic, L.A.'s overcrowded areas have suffered. We wanted to understand how it happened (1/16) latimes.com/california/sto… L.A. was sold before it was built. In the late 19th century, barely anyone lived here. But the aspiring oil, railroad and publishing magnates saw a paradise for the masses. They envisioned a “city of homes” with lawns, gardens and fruit trees (2/16)

Before the week is through, just want to acknowledge some of the work on modern-day freeway expansions from others that informed my and @bposton's investigation on those who have been displaced in recent years

latimes.com/projects/us-fr… @bposton But even before that, a crew @latimes put together incredible photos and graphics for our story that reveal better than words can how modern freeway expansions are affecting families and communities: @alschaben, @dataviz_szuyu, @ruhulmuk, @a1daylanan

In Houston, about 1,000 families would be forced from their homes for a planned $9-billion widening of four interstates through the city. What’s happening is a key example in our @latimes investigation on modern highway displacements nationwide (1/11)

latimes.com/projects/us-fr… @latimes The freeway expansions in Houston would go through Black communities devastated when the interstates first were built a half century ago and displaced tens of thousands of people. Today, the neighborhoods affected by the expansion are more than 75% Black and Latino (2/11)

THREAD: Meet Willie Dixon. The U.S. Interstate Highway System took his home twice — 40 years apart.

The first time was during the 1960s. Florida transportation officials bulldozed his one-story wooden home for the original I-275 in central Tampa (1/13)

latimes.com/projects/us-fr… Dixon and his wife moved three miles away, built a concrete block house and started a new life.

But a few decades later, state officials decided to widen I-275 through Tampa. Dixon lost his second home to the same freeway in 2004. (2/13)

A brief thread on single-family home zoning in Los Angeles. While reporting my story on Sacramento's move to eliminate such zoning, I recalled that LA Mayor Garcetti a couple years ago said he supported allowing triplexes in single-family neighborhoods

https://twitter.com/dillonliam/status/1108490919349637120

Garcetti hasn't proposed a plan to do so, but I did get my hands on some data from a recently city-commissioned poll. More than half respondents said that it was an "extremely high" or "major priority" to allow fourplexes in single-family neighborhoods

A San Francisco affordable housing project for 145 homeless residents was 30% faster to build and 25% cheaper than similar projects in the city because of streamlined financing and approval processes per new @TernerHousing research ternercenter.berkeley.edu/wp-content/upl… @TernerHousing This San Francisco analysis dovetails with our findings last year that pointed to bureaucratic financing complexity and lengthy local approval processes as key reasons why low-income housing in California costs the most to build of anywhere in the country latimes.com/homeless-housi…

With the year coming to an end, I wanted to highlight some work I'm proud of from 2020, and explain some of what went into producing it. A while ago, we wanted to understand why it costs more to build low-income housing in California than anywhere in the country. The high cost to build is a big reason why California can't meet its housing needs despite voters continuing to approve billions in new funding. So over months, @bposton put together a database of all the low-income housing projects funded by the state in the past decade.

THREAD: We did a lengthy interview with @Jason_Elliott, Gov. @GavinNewsom's housing chief, for @CAHousingPod. We covered a TON of ground. To encourage you to listen to the whole thing, here’s a brief thread — a TL;DL — on some of the highlights (1/8)
latimes.com/homeless-housi… @CAHousingPod Per Elliott:
• The state is securing 6,100 homeless housing units via motel conversions by end of year — a big success
• Simplifying state affordable housing financing could take years. (The current financing scheme is a big reason why it’s very costly to build here) (2/8)

December is going to be a very big month for @CAHousingPod. First order of business is selecting our Avocado of the Year — the most absurd story in all of California housing podcastery for 2020. After extensive conversations with @mlevinreports, we've decided on four nominees: @CAHousingPod @mlevinreports Nominee One for Avocado of the Year:

The Cheesecake Factory goes on a rent strike

la.eater.com/2020/3/25/2119…

THREAD: Courts in California are resuming eviction cases, but there’s also been a battery of new rules that aim to keep tenants economically affected by COVID-19 in their homes. I want to emphasize some points from today's explainer and add context latimes.com/homeless-housi… (1/7) There’s a bunch of overlapping federal, state and local rules and it's not clear how they interact. You could argue that individual provisions from each program could be more tenant friendly, but overall the state law is more generous to tenants than the federal order (2/7)

Voters trying to cast ballots @UCLA are reporting two-hour plus wait times with a substantial number of machines not functioning. @UCLA Some UCLA context from earlier today from the county registrar

https://twitter.com/LACountyRRCC/status/1234923009535725568

I’m here in the belly of Southern California’s worst acronym for what could be a key vote over how the region grows over the next decade. Here’s some background on what’s happening: For 50 years, the state has required local governments to set aside land for new housing to accommodate projected population growth. This process is deeply flawed and hasn’t led to nearly enough housing, but does require cities to zone for growth latimes.com/projects/la-po…

A brief story about the release of this new state study that links California’s high housing costs with the fees cities and counties charge developers to build. The study is five weeks overdue and only came out because we fought for it. (1/7) latimes.com/california/sto… In 2017, the state passed a law requiring a study on local government housing fees with an eye toward follow up legislation that would reduce them based on the study’s recommendations. That study, per the law, had to be done by June 30 of this year (2/7)

THREAD: This year, Oregon passed legislation to cap rents and end single-family zoning — big policies that California tried and failed to do. I went to Portland to find out why. There are four major reasons (1/12) latimes.com/california/sto… Oregon has a deep history of state involvement in housing. In 1973, Oregon set up an urban growth boundary, quasi-judicial land-use court and has a nonprofit @1000oregon that’s the keeper of the law. That group was a key driver behind the bill to end single-family zoning. (2/12)

We’re about to get started with the Senate housing committee hearing, which today will include a discussion of #SB50. You can follow along with a livestream here: senate.ca.gov. I’ll thread the tweets here as things get spicy. At the risk of my Twitter feed becoming an MC Escher painting, here’s my thread from this morning on what to watch for in the #SB50 discussion today

https://twitter.com/dillonliam/status/1113112221553266689

TODAY: State lawmakers will hear for the first time #SB50, the bill that allows four- to five-story apartments near transit and more. Unlike last year’s version of the legislation authored by Sen. @Scott_Wiener, SB 50 should advance out of its first committee. Here’s why: (1/6) @Scott_Wiener The first reason is pretty obvious. Senate leader @ToniAtkins created a new housing committee and put Wiener in charge of it. That’s where the bill will be heard today. It’s rare for a committee chair’s bill to get killed in their own committee. But there are more reasons. (2/6)

New California Gov. @GavinNewsom is proposing a huge new investment in low-income housing and a host of new policies to boost housing production overall in his first budget This looks like the biggest allocation and deal. $750 million to cities and counties to help spur production

THREAD: California Sen. @Scott_Wiener revived his proposal to boost homebuilding near transit yesterday. A prior version became the most talked about housing bill in the country before it failed earlier this year. My initial take on the new plan: (1/11) latimes.com/politics/la-po… The bill #SB50 keeps much of last year’s bill in tact. Four-to-five-stories near rail. Relaxed building rules near frequently used bus stops. No maps yet, but I imagine large parts of LA/SF would still be rezoned. There are three major policy differences that I've outlined (2/11)

The inimitable @philwillon taped @GavinNewsom’s presser yesterday. Housing highlights. On rent control, Newsom reiterates interest in a deal but offers no specifics: "I will not lay out the details here today. That will almost guarantee there will be no compromise if I did that." @GavinNewsom Newsom didn’t offer specifics on any other part of his housing plan, but said his general philosophy will be around housing production, preserving existing housing and preventing displacement.

THREAD We published a poll today on why Californians believe that housing is not affordable in the state. My big takeaway was that too little homebuilding — which is the consensus view among academics and others — fared poorly. (1/7) latimes.com/politics/la-po… Before I try to address some questions, I’ll share details about the poll. Below is the question and 8 responses that were available. USC gave people 2 choices, and allowed for other and undecided. The results are ranked by those who chose a particular option 1st or 2nd. (2/7)

It’s here! The California rent control primer you’ve been waiting for #Prop10 latimes.com/politics/la-po… In researching my rent control explainer, the divergence between economists who don’t like the policy and other researchers who do was striking. Non-economists would consistently point to the benefits gained from having stable housing and the need to help tenants immediately