Ben Christopher

Annnnnd that's my cue to exist. I'll leave this account live for now to check DMs every so often, but I don't plan to post here anymore. You can find me on Meta's Twitter at benc_cm. Appreciate you all!

Breaking: The California Supreme Court gave the greenlight for UC Berkeley to build student and homeless housing at People’s Park, ending a years-long legal debate over whether student noise is an environmental pollutant. cal.news/3x2qISh 📝 @FromBenC 📸 Semantha Norris

@mottsmith @mnolangray @CSElmendorf @CalMatters When I spoke to Terry & Andrew, they said they are hoping for voucher holders, but that the projects pencil w/o any. Others, like Steven Scheibe, said he isn't counting on them at all and that it would be hard to get a bank to underwrite based on that assumption. But we'll see!

@mnolangray @CSElmendorf Here's a screenshot from an interview with Terry Harris, who was featured in the @CalMatters, in which he confirms that Section 8 is part of their plan. I'm not sure how you make an ED1 project pencil without subsidy. youtube.com/watch?v=YgWlyL…

Tens of thousands of Angelenos will soon get new, affordable homes and all it took was local regulators making permitting fast, cheap, and predictable. calmatters.org/housing/2024/0…

If you’ve thought about buying a house, perused your local listings and then deleted the Zillow app from your phone while quietly weeping — you’ve probably noted that interest rates are high these days. cal.news/3S6pzBb 📝 @FromBenC

Today's @CalMatters newsletter @FromBenC -- @CAREALTORS on home prices -- @carolynjones100 + @ericayee_ on @CADeptEd test scores -- @AlejandroLazo on @AirResources on #methane from cows -- @JeanneKuang on #tinyhomes calmatters.org/newsletter/cal…

@mattunrath Both parents were in the room, otherwise I would not have trusted I'd heard that right!

@FromBenC Is this real?

After deeming Toddler healthy and physically average, Doctor tells us to limit our two year old's meals to TWO TABLESPOONS. Fixating on a demonstrably low risk of obesity while ignoring the health consequences of a lifetime of body image issues. Docs: get your shit together.

Breaking: California’s COVID-era $5.2 billion rent relief program is at risk of running out of money. That could leave the more than 100K renters who had applied and are still awaiting a decision officially out of luck. cal.news/3PIinZm 📝 @frombenc

Caltrans official says she was demoted for objecting to highway expansion ow.ly/EC2G104WB8z

...can it, though? Good write up here from my new colleague @bystellayu calmatters.org/politics/2023/…

To everyone who hasn't yet realized I'm now on the housing beat and is still emailing me about election stuff, please kindly re-direct those emails to Stella and say hello!

Just weeks ago, Newsom dismissed the prospect of appointing Sen. Feinstein's replacement as "a hypothetical on top of a hypothetical." From @akoseff: "That hypothetical is now real." calmatters.org/politics/2023/…

@VivaLaPanda_ 😐

I'm pretty sure they have Lyft there too

The uber exclusive Bay Area burb of Atherton is having a tough time finding room for all the new houses the state is forcing them to plan for. One reason why: City council won't consider anything with more than 10 units per acre. almanacnews.com/news/2023/09/2…

@SteierMisha Great question. I don't know. But here's a wild stat from one of the appendices: The tax bill on an SF home owned for the avg duration is higher than the tax bills on NEW homes in most of the cities in the sample.

Interesting why is San Francisco an outlier amongst California cities?

@catrionastew That does not make me feel better.

Sometimes I dread the steady, inevitable march of time. But then I think about how we’re only 5 and a half years away from Animal Collective doing a Merriweather Post Pavilion 20th anniversary tour and I feel better

I dunno, I feel like ADHD might not be the main culprit here. calmatters.org/education/high…

@landpolicy Reminds me of this stellar 2018 story by CalMatters' former housing reporter that profiles a two homeowners on a single block in Oakland. One was paying $13k per year in property taxes. The other, $7k. projects.scpr.org/prop-13/storie…

@landpolicy A link to the study: lincolninst.edu/publications/o…

A study by @landpolicy on how much property taxes vary within cities. Here's a chart showing the diff btw taxes paid on newly purchased homes and homes owned the median length of time in that city. Thanks to Prop 13 and soaring real estate values, CA cities dominate the top 10.