President-elect Donald Trump’s housing policy for his second term is vague at best. But based on available information, many California housing experts are not optimistic about what it could mean for the state’s crisis.

The sudden disappearance of half a billion dollars of state money meant to help community land trusts has left some housing advocates questioning California’s commitment to preserving existing affordable housing.

Kamala Harris pledges to build 3 million affordable homes and apartments in her first term as president, but Gov. Newsom has fallen short on a similar campaign promise in California.

While it’s always been more expensive to be a homeowner in California, the gap between the rest of the country has widened into a chasm.

Gov. Gavin Newsom rejected a Democratic proposal that would have extended first-time home-buyer loans to some undocumented immigrants. Republicans had widely criticized the bill.

The cost of Proposition 47 is just too high.

One day before the deadline, the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority pulled a $20 billion affordable housing bond off Bay Area ballots amid fears that it wouldn’t pass.

Some California agencies are offering incentives and hosting workshops for school districts that want to build affordable housing for teachers.

The Los Gatos Meadows project was granted a story pole exception so it only has to produce a visual rendering, not put up physical structures to indicate where buildings would appear. 

A newly created regional housing finance authority for the entire San Francisco Bay Area will send a bond of up to $20 billion to the ballot. But the fate of its statewide counterpart looks bleak.

California lawmakers made an effort in 2023 to remove red tape around building new houses.

More than 100 developers backing 240 projects with approximately 20,000 proposed affordable housing units applied to the state's Housing and Community Development Department for more than $3.5 billion, but the state only has $576 million to award. 

Why did the homelessness crisis become more dire in 2023, even as the Legislature passed more affordable housing laws? Home prices and rents are still increasing.

Speaker Robert Rivas seems to be laying the institutional groundwork for an aggressively pro-housing legislature next year.

I am concerned about how we, as a city and county, are spending our taxpayers’ funds to address the homelessness crisis.

Housing developments will now be more streamlined with less red tape, density laws can be overruled in the interest of housing, and institutions like colleges or religious organizations can now use portions of their property to build housing.