California Stories | Community Development Digest

Waters, Bass Urge California Lawmakers to Quash Evictions

Reps. Maxine Waters (D-CA) and Karen Bass (D-CA) this past week fired off a strongly worded letter to the California State Senate President pro Tempore, Kevin de Leon and the Speaker of the California Assembly, Toni Atkins, urging them to support legislation that will impose a moratorium on the Ellis Act, a California law that is increasingly being abused to evict hundreds of veterans, elderly people, and low income families.

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LA Councilman Proposes to Save Existing Affordable Housing Units

Los Angeles Councilman Gil Cedillo (D) is pushing a proposal to use some $9 million in former redevelopment funds to help keep rent and housing costs low for hundreds of residential units in his district. If approved, it could become a model program for adoption by other districts in the city.

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Community Development from Coast to Coast

A quick roundup of development-related news from around the nation.

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Declining Snowpack in the West Exacerbates Drought

Warm temperatures in February contributed to further snowpack decline in the Cascades and Sierra Nevada, according to data from the third 2015 forecast by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). Snowpack in Nevada, Utah and Idaho also fell further behind normal.

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San Francisco Launches New Housing Effort

San Francisco, CA Mayor Ed Lee (D) proposes the Public Land for Housing plan designed to build homes affordable to the poor and upper middle class earning no more than $116,500 a year for a family of four.

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San Francisco Weighs Higher Densities

The plan, unveiled at a San Francisco Housing Action Coalition meeting, comes after a California appellate court ruled last year that state law requires cities to reward developers for adding additional affordable units by giving them “density bonuses.”

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Grantees Focus on Workforce, Health, Literacy

Google names the four winners of its Bay Area Impact Challenge

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Final Lead Paint Ruling in California

A state judge in Santa Clara County, CA refuses to grant a new trial to lead paint manufacturers and orders them to pay $1.5 billion into a fund to be used to remove lead paint that is potentially dangerous to children in thousands of homes in 10 cities and counties in the state.

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Central Calif. Community Targeted for Residential Development

Founded in 1977, the homebuilder and land developer operates in: Arizona, California, Nevada, Texas and Utah, focusing on designing and building innovative single-family and multi-family homes.

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College Land Deal Fees to Bankroll Affordable Housing

University of California-San Francisco’s (UCSF) pending deal to buy 3.5 acres in Mission Bay from Salesforce would pump $32 million into affordable housing and infrastructure improvements.

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