California, Housing

California's Central Valley, where farms are rapidly being converted to tract housing, has the worst air quality in the state. A new "sprawl fee" on developments based on vehicle trips they would generate has spawned a legal challenge from builders.

What to do with an area that produces some 80 percent of the nation's lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, and spinach that lacks in housing for migrant workers? Why build more housing of course. Not so fast say "slow-growth" advocates.

The state has the distinction of being the least-affordable in the nation, according to a new report from the California Building Industry Association.

As Los Angeles' old neighborhoods are scrubbed clean and the city begins to embrace density, gentrification is threatening the way of life for residents in many communities.

Dramatic increases in foreclosures in California, Colorado, Las Vegas and Phoenix are being attributed to an "overwhelming use of creative mortgage products."

A new census survey offers a startling look at the de-population of older cities in the San Francisco Bay Area, especially among African Americans, as the flight to the more affordable, outer East Bay communities continues.

A Bay Area county will be the first in the region to take advantage of a new state law that allows cities to swap meeting state-mandated, affordable housing requirements for cash donations to cities which build affordable housing within same county.

As television uses more and more suburban settings, viewers should ask how closely do the on-screen places resemble reality.

Planning commissioners from Santa Clarita, California, have recent visited several Southern California cities with affordable housing ordinances in hopes of gaining insight for a possible inclusionary housing ordinance.

A recent op-ed in the Los Angeles Times outlines the issues around "gentrification" using the city's recent wave of downtown redevelopment as a case study.

HUD's Los Angeles Housing Authority is replacing its older, "oppressive", public housing stock with friendlier, mixed-income complexes to ease the city's housing crisis.

A business group publishes its annual "report card" or housing profile for Bay Area communities by comparing local housing permits issued to state-mandated housing goals.

Approved twin towers at the base of the San Francisco entrance to the Bay Bridge are designed to withstand earthquakes and hurricane gales.

Los Angeles faces projections of a population increase of up to 5 million people by 2030. The city's residents and planners are trying to come to terms with growth as a necessity, but the city's developer-friendly attitude has angered many residents.

The city will amend its three-year-old ordinance to settle a lawsuit brought by the local the Building Industry Association.

The council will work with city officials and developers identify workable sites for infill housing as an alternative to sprawl.

With tens of thousands of housing units springing up downtown and nearby classrooms already at capacity, the local school district is figuring out how to meet the coming demand.

A $1-billion bond measure that would help fund about 1,000 new affordable housing units annually over the next decade and enable middle-income workers to become first-time homeowners is likely to appear on the Los Angeles ballot in November.

Residents of Scotia, CA, hope that their community can retain its unique after the sale.

The historic downtown of Santa Ana, CA, is being transformed with lofts, concerts, and an experimental music festival featuring a "carchestra".