News
L.A. Controller urges city to use its vacant land for homeless housing
Spectrum News – May 18
City of Los Angeles Controller Ron Galperin called on city leaders to use government-owned properties to house people experiencing homelessness. Since 2019, Galperin’s office has been monitoring the progress of Prop HHH, the voter-approved $1.2 billion bond measure designed to build 10,000 units of housing to help reduce homelessness in the city. Earlier this year, Galperin reported that just 1,142 units had so far been built and were ready for occupancy at an average cost of $600,000 per unit. Galperin delivered his remarks from a 394,000-square-foot vacant property on S. Clovis Avenue in South Los Angeles, one of 26 available pieces of land comprising 1.7 million square feet Galperin’s office identified in January that are city-owned and could house and provide services to homeless individuals.
San Diego City Council approves short-term rental regulations, capping number of units
NBC San Diego – May 17
After a years-long battle, the San Diego City Council last Tuesday voted to approve a plan to cap the number of short-term vacation rentals across the city. As part of the proposal, a lottery system will be used to determine which homeowners will be given two-year licenses to rent out their entire homes to vacationers. The regulations are expected to cut the number of short-term rentals in the city by 48%.
San Francisco faces $1.3 billion shortfall in quest to meet state housing goals
San Francisco Chronicle – May 19
San Francisco would need an additional $1.3 billion in order to meet the state-mandated affordable housing production requirements set to kick in next year, according to a report from the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development. While San Francisco is still working on its housing element— a housing production plan every California city is required to complete every eight years — city planners face a daunting task: how to create 82,000 new homes in the eight years from 2023 to 2030, including 32,000 that are affordable to very-low-income and low-income families.
California is set to get its first new state park in over a decade
CNN – May 21
California is set to establish its first new state park in 13 years. The 2,500-acre property, known as Dos Rios Ranch, will likely be donated to the California state park system by River Partners, a non-profit that has worked to rehabilitate and rewild the land after years of use as farmland. The park will be just 20 minutes from downtown Modesto. The restoration of the woodland on the property will help reduce the risk of flooding and provide heat protection, according to California Department of Parks and Recreation Director Armando Quintero.
At Google’s new campus, ‘dragonscale’ solar panels capture sunlight from all different angles
Fast Company – May 17
At Google’s newly opened campus in Mountain View, it is not immediately obvious, but the sprawling canopies on each building are covered in 50,000 small, silver-colored “dragonscale” photovoltaic (solar) panels, shaped to optimize the times they can generate solar power throughout the day. The company is working with architects from Bjarke Ingels Group and Heatherwick Studio to make the new campus as sustainable as possible. A massive geothermal system, the largest in North America, will also make it possible to heat and cool the buildings without fossil fuels. The buildings’ solar skins, along with local wind power, will help the campus work toward Google’s goal of running on 100% carbon-free power, 24-7, by the end of the decade. Right now, it runs on 90% carbon-free power.
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