Pressured to rebuild Pacific Palisades, the City of Los Angeles may adopt a rare policy to help developers and builders sidestep lengthy permitting processes that can delay production of new housing

USC demographer professor of planning Dowell Myers does not dispute these phenomena. But, according to a newly published study “Misalignment of Housing Growth and Population Trends: Cohort Size and Lagging Measurements Through Recession and Recovery,” they are actually tangential to deeper economic causes that have led to what he describes as not just a local housing crisis but, indeed, a national housing crisis

There are times when Mother Nature – especially when abetted by climate change and drought – will do as she pleases. In those cases, all cities and residents can do is try to minimize the damage

With the signing of Assembly Bill 98 last month, they may get it. But, it will potentially come at the cost of curtailing one of the state’s few post-pandemic economic development success stories. It may also give the state’s planners serious headaches.

Insurance in wildfire areas is becoming harder to get — which should be a good thing for the state’s growth management policies. But it’s getting in the way of meeting the state’s housing targets

The vast majority of bills related to housing, planning, and transportation improvements are charging ahead this session. May 24 was the last day for bills to pass out of their respective houses of origin.

Around 250,000 voters in Solano County will decide whether to welcome as many as 400,000 new neighbors. It is likely to be a serious test of “yes in my backyard” sentiment in California — or, in the case of Solano County — yes in my pasture, field, or rangeland.

Many cities have already upzoned. Now, they’re trying to speed up the development process.

This year’s bills, though, exhibit pragmatic approaches. Rather than seek headlines (and draw ire of slow-growth advocates), this year’s bills largely address nuances that, perhaps, only developers could love. At least, that’s the hope of many legislators.

Despite the region’s demand for housing, Long Beach’s planners are not assuming that development will naturally follow up-zoning. Even with their statutory work done, they are engaging in an unusually aggressive campaign to actually promote development.

Post-pandemic, some California downtowns are up. Some are way down…

Even as cities strain under the weight of new housing regulations, legislators are trying new ideas and resurrecting old ones.