Connect with us

California

California wants more tiny homes

Published

on

California wants more tiny homes


A Democratic senator in California is trying to pass legislation that would speed up the construction of temporary tiny homes to shelter homeless people, relieving the Golden State’s ongoing crisis.

Senator Josh Becker, who represents California’s Senate District 13, introduced Senate Bill 1395 in February, in an attempt to streamline interim housing projects on a statewide level and house homeless people quickly.

The measure, also called the Interim Housing Act, would make relocatable, non-congregate interim housing eligible for streamline zoning, reducing construction time and costs, as well as cutting red tape and speeds up approvals for local governments that want to build them.

“It expedites the process for cities and counties to build more housing options and significantly increase the inventory,” Becker said of the bill. “With the development of more interim housing, we can put a roof over the heads of our unhoused neighbors faster so that they can get back on their feet and on track towards permanent housing.”

Advertisement

Newsweek contacted Becker for comment by phone on Wednesday morning, outside of standard working hours.

A view of housing units at the Tarzana Tiny Home Village which offers temporary housing for homeless people on July 9, 2021, in Los Angeles. A Democratic senator in the state is trying to pass…


ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images

California has one of the highest rates of homelessness in the country. In 2023, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development reported that there were 181,399 unhoused Californians—28 percent of the country’s total homeless population.

Between 2007 and 2023 the homelessness rate surged by 30.5 percent in California; between 2022 and 2023 alone, it rose by 5.8 percent.

According to the department, last year the Golden State accounted for 48 percent of all unsheltered people in the country, with a total of 123,423 homeless people without a roof over their heads. “This is nearly eight times the number of unsheltered people in the state with the next highest number, Florida,” the department wrote.

Becker said that “despite concerted efforts to increase housing production, California’s budget, land, and zoning limitations inhibit sufficient permanent housing construction.”

Advertisement

“This is really a California issue,” Becker said during a press conference on August 6. “Over the last 10 years, people on the street are suffering much worse outcomes. They’re dying on the street, they’re being insulted on the street, they’re becoming addicted to drugs on the street,” he added.

“And the key is how can we move people into shelters? How can we help them rebuild their lives quickly?[…]SB 1395 will help save lives by bridging the gap between being unsheltered and finding permanent housing.”

SB 1395 puts interim housing—like temporary small homes shelters—at the center of a short-term solution that could save lives in California. Several cities across different states in the U.S. have built temporary tiny homes shelters to address the urgent issue of housing people at a time when the U.S. housing market is particularly unaffordable.

Last year, California Governor Gavin Newsom promised the construction of 1,200 tiny homes to shelter the state’s homeless population as part of a $1-billion initiative, but until now only 150 have reportedly been purchased. Los Angeles is expected to receive 500 units; Sacramento 350 units; San Jose 200 units; and San Diego County 150 units.

The slow progress of the initiative is due to the fact that the responsibility to buy and place the tiny homes was moved from the state to the jurisdiction of each city and county, Fortune reported. Last month, Newsom notified San Diego that the state was withdrawing its $10-million grant after the county moved too slowly to build the tiny home shelters.

Advertisement

The problem of housing homeless people has become particularly urgent after the Supreme Court ruled in July to allow local governments to enforce laws against people sleeping in public spaces. At the end of the same month, Newsom issued an executive order calling for the removal of homeless encampments across the state—whether the people living there can found a shelter to stay in or not—with the idea of putting additional pressure on local governments to address the crisis.

Tiny homes—which normally measure an average 400 square feet or less—are usually fitted with a bed, a small toilet, WiFi, and air conditioning or electric fans. Experts told Newsweek that while they are a key part of the solution, they can only be considered a temporary option before housing homeless people permanently in bigger spaces.

“Tiny homes are in many ways safer than being on the streets unsheltered. However, they are not a long-term solution,” Jamie Chang, an associate professor at the School of Social Welfare at the University of California, Berkeley, previously told Newsweek.

“It is essential to view tiny homes as a temporary option that should be a stepping stone to more stable housing in a larger, permanent unit.”

SB 1395 is sponsored by San Jose’s Mayor Matt Mahan, Dignity Moves, the Bay Area Council, and the San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association. It also has the backing of San Francisco’s Mayor London Breed.

Advertisement



Source link

California

Northern California’s House of Clocks has stood the test of time for 55 years

Published

on

Northern California’s House of Clocks has stood the test of time for 55 years


While we may lose an hour of sleep this coming weekend, one clock store in California is gearing up for one of its busiest times of the year: daylight savings.

It’s the House of Clocks, the largest clock company in Northern California, which was recently celebrating 55 years of business.

It’s a place frozen in time. Just visit the store’s 240-year-old grandfather clock. It’s got plenty of stories to tell, dating back to 1780.

“This is the oldest piece we have right now,” clocksmith Joey Hohn said.

Advertisement

The House of Clocks is on the outskirts of Downtown Lodi in San Joaquin County.

“We have new, we have vintage, we have antique,” co-owner Sandy Hohn shared. “Honestly, it feels like not a day goes by that we don’t get a phone call or an email of somebody wanting to sell something for 100 different reasons.”

The clock store has been with the Hohn family for three generations. It’s all thanks to one family heirloom.

“When the first war started, [my grandparents] left everything and had to move,” Joey Hohn explained. “After the Second World War, my grandpa was stationed in Germany. They went back to the house that had been abandoned and the neighbor who they left the property to said, ‘As far as I’m concerned, everything in the house is still yours.’ They went back and got this, so this is my great-great-grandparents’ clock.”

You can find just about anything in the House of Clocks, from old grandfather clocks to clocks that can fit in the palm of your hand.

Advertisement

What you can’t find anywhere else is the Hohns’ love for Lodi.

“We’ve made so many friends over the years out of customers,” Sandy Hohn said. “Friends that are just wonderful, that love collecting, and we keep them repaired for their families, which is awesome. They have sentimental value that’s passed down.”

That same love for the city and their community runs in the family.

“We had a customer that wanted to repaint their dial,” Joey Hohn explained. “We told them no because it was her father’s who had passed away. Every time he went to wind the clock, he placed his thumb in the same spot. When we told her that smudge there on the dial was her father, she said, ‘Back away, don’t you dare.’ It was just a good memory we have.”

While you can’t turn back time, what we can do is keep memories alive and treasure the present moment.

Advertisement

“There’s so many personalities,” Sandy Hohn said. “We just try to find a good home for them.”



Source link

Continue Reading

California

Signs of spring blooming at Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve after wet, warm winter

Published

on

Signs of spring blooming at Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve after wet, warm winter


It’s beginning to look a lot like spring!

The warm and wet weather this winter has led to the start of a dazzling super bloom at the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve.

“We had an unseasonably warm winter as well, so there’s actually a lot of growth,” said Callista Turney with California State Parks. “We’re having early wildflowers that are already at the park. So if you look at the poppy live cam, it shows a lot of orange already.”

The rain has helped the early blooms, but it’s actually the heat that accelerated the growth of the flowers.

Advertisement

“It will actually speed up the growth of the plants, so some of them were already blooming and that’s going to cause those blossoms to accelerate faster towards seed production. And the blossoms that are in the process of being formed, those are going to open up soon as well.”

We also sometimes see great super blooms in Death Valley National Park, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Joshua Tree and the Mojave National Preserve.

“It’s definitely a rare occurrence because we don’t always have the right conditions. It’s gotta be the weather, the wind, the rain, all coming together,” said Katie Tilford, Director of Development and Communications with the Theodore Payne Foundation.

If it continues to stay unseasonably warm, we’ll see a shorter bloom. The key to a longer season is milder weather.


Copyright © 2026 KABC Television, LLC. All rights reserved.

Advertisement



Source link

Continue Reading

California

Republican governor candidate Chad Bianco says he’s the ‘antithesis to California state government’

Published

on

Republican governor candidate Chad Bianco says he’s the ‘antithesis to California state government’


We are counting down to the California governor’s race. Chad Bianco, the sheriff of Riverside County, is one of the two biggest names running on the Republican ticket.

In a one-on-one interview with Eyewitness News political reporter Josh Haskell, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said, “I am the antithesis to California state government because I am going to take a nuclear bomb into that building and absolutely destroy everything that they do to us behind closed doors.”

Although he’s been elected by the voters twice, Bianco says he’s not a politician — which is why he believes his campaign for California governor is resonating, as reflected in the polls.

“President Trump, in one year, from 2025 when he took over, until now, did absolutely nothing to harm California. What’s harming California is 30 years of Democrat one-party rule that have created an environment here that no one can live in anymore. They’ve only been successful here in California because we vote D no matter what. You vote D or die. I mean, that’s it. Charles Manson would be elected in California if he was the only Democrat on the ballot,” Bianco said.

Advertisement

Bianco isn’t the only conservative Republican running for governor, and according to polling, he’s neck-and-neck with former Fox News host Steve Hilton.

SEE ALSO: CA governor candidate Steve Hilton says ‘everybody supports’ Trump’s immigration policies

Leading in some polls in the wide-open California Governor’s race as the June primary creeps closer is Republican and former Fox News host Steve Hilton.

“Steve has no chance of winning in November. The Democrats know that I’m going to win in November, and so they have to do everything they can to keep me out of that,” Bianco said.

When asked about the affordability crisis in the state, Bianco said, “Almost the entire issue of affordability in California is because of regulation, excessive regulation imposed by government. Every single regulation can be signed away with the governor’s signature.”

Advertisement

“It is a drug and alcohol addiction problem that, and a mental health problem,” he said about the homelessness crisis. “Every single bit of money that is going to these nonprofits that say ‘homeless,’ zero money. You’re getting absolutely nothing. I can’t tell you that we would end what we see in the homeless situation within a year, but I guarantee you we would never see it again after two years.”

When challenged on that prediction, pointing to how the state doesn’t have the facilities to treat the number of people living on our streets, Bianco responded, “We have been conditioned to believe that buildings take five years to build. It takes 90 days or less to build a house, but in California, it takes three to five years because the government won’t allow it. The regulations that are destroying this state are going to be removed with me as the governor.”

Bianco also said California jails shouldn’t have to play the role of treatment facilities.

Although he says he supports the Trump administration and wants the president’s endorsement, Bianco has been traveling the state — meeting not just with Republicans, but Democrats and independents as well. He says all of our state government officials have failed.

The primary election is June 2.

Advertisement

No clear front-runner in race for California governor, new poll shows

A new poll shows there’s still no clear front-runner in the race to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Copyright © 2026 KABC Television, LLC. All rights reserved.



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Trending