housing

Cities resist regional plan to limit sprawl

Angela Hart, SF Public Press — Jun 13 2012 - 1:44pm

A high-profile effort to focus new Bay Area housing into energy-efficient transit villages is seen as unworkable even as it makes its public debut this summer, say urban planners, because regional government lacks the authority to make cities build dense urban neighborhoods. The three-decade Plan Bay Area, unveiled in May, is the product of more than two years of research on the region’s demographics, economy, transportation and architecture. Proponents say “smart growth” could be the future of the Bay Area — if regional agencies had either the legal tools to enforce the grand vision or enough money to make it worthwhile for cities to participate.

Tenants raising rents on new roommates

Lisette Mejia, Mission Local — Jun 6 2012 - 11:16am

Finding a place to live in the Mission can be daunting. Often, dozens of  hopeful renters show up at open houses, and Craigslist ads elicit responses from hundreds of people. With demand comes desperation, and in addition to those who offer cooked meals or to slip in an additional $600 to secure a spot, some are willing to pay extra rent to a master tenant for a room — and some are willing to charge it.

Story in progress: Veteran smart growth group wary of rushing to judgment

Maureen Nandini Mitra, SF Public Press — Sep 27 2010 - 2:27pm

The other day we had a chance to chat over the phone with Jeremy Madsen, executive director of Greenbelt Alliance. This much-respected nonprofit has been advocating smart growth and open spaces in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1958. In 2008 the outfit published Smart Infill, a 80-page report that recommends infill development — building on vacant lots and redeveloping blighted urban areas — as a way of accommodating the Bay Area’s growing population without paving the region’s farms and natural areas.

Environmentalists, preservationists face off in Parkmerced

Alison Hawkes, KALW Public Radio — Feb 18 2010 - 5:08pm

KALW Public Radio reporter Alison Hawkes took a closer look at Parkmerced, where owners are pitching a 30-year plan to transform the site into a low-carbon community. For developers, it’s a test to see if “green” can stand for both environmental sustainability and the color of money. Hawkes found the drive for a clean new future is clashing with the past.

Shanty towns rise in the Central Valley as poverty levels climb

Thea Chroman, Mar 2 2009 - 10:51pm

Fresno, Calif. has the highest levels of concentrated poverty in the nation. In some neighborhoods, nearly half of all residents are living below the federal poverty line. Over the past year, many of those poor residents have slipped out of housing completely. Now shanty towns are springing up along the railroad tracks, an image that recalls shanty towns of a different era: the so-called Hoovervilles of the Great Depression. KALW's Thea Chroman reports.

The return of Hooverville: car and tent cities on the rise in San Francisco

Thea Chroman, The Public Press — Feb 10 2009 - 6:13pm

San Francisco’s per capita homeless rate has long been the highest in the country. But in the past year, it has shot up 40 percent, by some measures. The increase came as foreclosures put pressure on the rental market, the budget crisis slowed aid, and the job market tightened up.

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