Fonseca v. City of Gilroy, 148 Cal.App.4th 1174 (2007)
An earlier version of the housing element statute did not require local governments to identify specific sites for affordable housing, the Court of Appeal has held. The court ruled that before 2004 Government Code § 65583(a)(3) was satisfied if a…
McNairy v. C.K. Realty, 150 Cal.App.4th 1500 (2007)
Damages for emotional distress are potentially available in slumlord suits, the Court of Appeal has held. Civil Code § 1942.4(a)(4)(b)(1) permits an award of “actual damages” for a landlord’s violation of the habitability statutes. Actual damages has always included damages…
Supreme disagreements
Unless you’ve been doing hard time in an isolation tank this week, you don’t really need us to alert you about the seismic shifts that have occurred in the 5/4 world of the U.S. Supreme Court. But we can direct…
A Framework for a New Safety Net
More than 10 years after welfare reform, we are pretty aware that the “just go to work” message did a number on the safety net. So, Urban Institute put out a new policy paper, Framework for a New Safety Net…
California, L.A. and national data about unauthorized immigrants
A March 2007 report from the Urban Institute in Washington, D.C., funded by the San Francisco-based Rosenberg Foundation, details The Characteristics of Unauthorized Immigrants in California, Los Angeles County, and the United States. Based on 2004 data, the report breaks…
Why has the poverty rate not fallen since the early 1970s?
In recent testimony presented before the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support, MDRC President Gordon Berlin argues for potentially effective solutions — both short term and long term — for alleviating poverty related to low…
California inclusionary housing database
The California Coalition for Rural Housing has just launched a first-of-its-kind on line inclusionary housing database containing information on inclusionary zoning policies from more than 130 California jurisdictions. The database features user-friendly summaries of the key characteristics of each policy…
Affordable housing bibliography
The Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) has published a very comprehensive and useful bibliography on affordable housing topics. The bibliography includes books, reports, government documents, and articles. There are links to most of these documents in the bibliography.
Mapping education data
For those working on education issues in their local communities, here’s an interesting mapping alternative: EdWeek Map Viewer, an interactive mapping site enabling you to exam and compare education statistics of one school district (e.g., graduation rates) with other districts,…
Safe Air for Everyone, et al. v. EPA, No. 05-75269 (9th Cir. January 30, 2007), 2007 DJDAR 1350 (January 31, 2007)
Environmental advocacy organizations challenged the EPA’s approval of an amendment sought by the state of Idaho to a state plan, required by the Clean Air Act, creating air quality standards for certain pollutants. The court concludes, after an extended analysis…
