Housing

Under Senate Bill 899, nonprofit hospitals and faith institutions like churches, synagogues and mosques, would be able to build up to 150 affordable housing units on their excess property, regardless if local zoning prohibits that type of housing.

It's been years in the making and now San Jose's first tiny home community officially opened on Thursday, complete with security and resident services. 

For nearly four decades, Ariel Outreach Mission in Oakland has helped people and families struggling with housing insecurity find a permenant place to call home.

The county's Community Development Agency is seeking stories from unit owners and renters to encourage the county's cities and towns to spur their development. ADU owners and renters are both eligible for compensation of up to $200 for participating in the county's survey.

Senate Bill 1079 would give tenants of a foreclosed property the exclusive opportunity to buy the house for a reduced price within 90 days of its foreclosure.

California should lower the legal bar for providing forced treatment to the mentally ill and building more homeless shelters, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday in his second State of the State address.

The activist women known as Moms 4 Housing will be among those recognized as Black History Month honorees when the Oakland City Council meets at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, council President Rebecca Kaplan announced.

Two people familiar with the state's and Bay Area's housing crisis said fees and delays for various reasons are behind the 9,880-unit decrease in housing construction.

The project, scheduled to open this summer, includes 53 one-bedroom residences at 2626 Sir Francis Drake Blvd., about one mile north of downtown.

Despite a narrative that housing construction in the Bay Area is going gangbusters, the number of units built last year was nearly 10,000 shy of the year before, according to preliminary data from the Construction Industry Research Board and assembled Friday by Bay City News Service.  

The blaze was first reported shortly after 4:30 p.m. Friday. The first crews to arrive on scene reported the structure was a total loss.

The tenants say they're frustrated with ignored and repeated requests for repairs, and with increases in the cost of their rent. 

Voters in 2018 rejected a similar initiative after a $100 million battle between advocates and the real estate industry.

Oakland officials said support for the homeless camp residents is the latest of many partnerships to meet the immediate needs of unsheltered people as well as tackling the root causes of homelessness.

The task force  will work on serving homeless people in the county and helping them transition into temporary and permanent supportive housing with increased funding for mental health services, increased shelter beds and more publicly available storage and hygiene services for unhoused people.

At a Monday news conference, President, elected leaders, and student and faculty representatives, announcing a multi-phased, multi-year approach to provide needed housing and services.

On certain street corners just outside downtown San Rafael people say panhandling has become a problem. "I think it is shameful they are allowed to come here and do that," said resident Bruce Sarafraz.

Landlords in Oakland are now banned from asking potential tenants about their criminal history after a unanimous vote by city council.