How Californians have weaponized environmental law
By any reasonable metric, the empty lot on the corner of First and Lorena Street in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles is a natural place to build housing. With a bus stop...
More rent control in California will make the housing problem worse
Rent control is a terrible idea that just won’t die. The latest example is a new bill working its way through the California legislature that would cap annual rent increases at 5 percent for...
FCC blocks part of San Francisco’s first-in-nation broadband law
The Federal Communications Commission voted to preempt part of a San Francisco city law that prevents property owners from denying internet service providers access to existing wiring within multiunit buildings.
The provision of the San...
Airbnb loses huge battle
The ruling by a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit is a setback for the home-sharing platforms in their effort to avoid regulation by cities that blame the rapid proliferation of short-term rentals for...
Oregon likely to become first in the nation to adopt statewide rent control
As home and rental prices rise across the country, more and more locales are giving serious consideration to a policy long denounced by economists: rent control. That includes Oregon, which increasingly looks likely to...
Big efficiency, little cost
In 1996, the Department of Defense (DoD) created a program to move the ownership and management of housing for service personnel to private companies as part of a Public-Private Venture (PPV) program. The idea...
Are market-based rents on their last song?
If voters opt yes on Prop 10, we can say hello to new—and, frankly, aggressive—rent control regs in California. Local municipalities would have the ability to put rent caps on all rental properties—single family,...
The great disappeared
The state remains one of the most unequal in the nation—one that has both billions of dollars in Silicon Valley and rampant homelessness. The Golden State’s efforts to eliminate poverty instead accentuates it, and...
Essex spends big to defeat rent control measure
Essex generates 84 percent of its net operating income in California, far more than any other large apartment REIT. That explains why Essex has contributed more to defeat the measure than any other public...
New lawsuit in Seattle: Housing ordinance is unfair and unconstitutional
Seattle’s Fair Chance Housing Ordinance, passed by city council in 2017, forbids landlords from considering applicants’ criminal histories when selecting tenants. In other words, landlords cannot base a rental decision on concerns over their...
Wind at our back
The new tax system, which was reformed for the first time in 32 years in December, strips away some of the long-standing benefits that would incentivize Americans to become homeowners.
“This is definitely a tailwind...
The push for rent control
In November 2018, election ballots in California might include a question on rent control. Right now, California law restricts the spread of rent regulations on housing built after 1995, in addition to many older...
Investor’s latest sweetheart: workforce housing
There is expected demand for an additional 4.5 million new apartments in the U.S. by 2030, according to data from the Workforce Housing Committee of the National Multifamily Housing Council, Washington.
What’s more, deal activity...
A gem regains its luster and a city gains apartments
On a plot of land between Immanuel Presbyterian Church, now listed as a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument, and the Ambassador Hotel, home of the Coconut Grove nightclub and host of the 1930 Academy Awards,...
The high cost of incivility
The nasty looks and belittling comments reached a point at law firm Bryan Cave, in Irvine, Calif., that the partners held a civility workshop.
Managing partner Stuart Price says working together toward a common goal...
