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Tag: Housing

  • What hurricane laws mean for vacation rentals in North Carolina

    Getting into the vacation rental business started off as a necessity for Ashley Harkrader.

    “I became a single mom in 2015, and I needed to figure out how to take care of my daughter,” said Harkrader of Pretty Stays CLT.

    She now has almost 100 properties nationwide and most of them are in North Carolina.

    What You Need To Know

    • North Carolina last year received about 40 million visitors from across the country, making it the fifth-most-visited state, according to the North Carolina Department of Commerce

    • With an increase in tourism, property owners like Ashley Harkrader say it’s important that state laws protect visitors during hurricane season 

    • She says she knows first-hand why these laws are essential because one of her properties in Boone was destroyed by Hurricane Helene 


    According to the North Carolina Department of Commerce, last year there were around 40 million visitors from across the country, ranking North Carolina the fifth-most-visited state. 

    With an increase in tourism, property owners like Harkrader think it’s important that state laws protect visitors during hurricane season.

    “Because I think we all need to care about each other in situations that none of us can control, and I think that gives us the ability to create a better rapport. So that way, when the time is appropriate for them to travel back to you, they know that you truly believe in their safety and vice versa,” Harkrader said.

    The North Carolina Vacation Rental Act says renters must follow mandatory evacuation orders and they are entitled to a prorated refund if they do have to evacuate. There is an exception if someone opts out of insurance that covers the risk of evacuation. If a vacation rental can’t be delivered as promised, renters must be refunded or offered a comparable property. 

    “I encourage those individuals who are entering into short-term leases to make sure that they’re reading the leases and what all of their rights and responsibilities are under the lease and paying particular attention to the insurance coverage. Of course, any of the mandatory evacuation orders that may be put in place during this hurricane season,” said Kristen Fetter of the North Carolina Real Estate Commission. 

    Harkrader says she knows first-hand why these laws are so essential since one of her properties in Boone was destroyed by Helene. 

    “We actually had a family that was going to be staying there, but we obviously refunded and gave them their money back just because we didn’t know what was going to happen,” Harkrader said.

    Arin Cotel-Altman

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  • A new mobile home in Anchorage costs up to $300,000. New city proposals aim to fix that.

    Sep. 16—There hasn’t been a new mobile home park built in Anchorage in more than three decades, a recent report found, and most of the existing mobile home stock is deteriorating or outright decrepit.

    The city has about three dozen such mobile home parks, formally designated “Mobile Home Communities” in municipal code, and accounting for approximately 4,600 housing units.

    Mayor Suzanne LaFrance’s administration is preparing two separate ordinances that aim to slow the disappearance of one of the city’s biggest reservoirs of low-income housing.

    One huge reason new mobile home parks aren’t being built is expense. Mobile homes exploded in popularity because setting them up was cheap, and served as “an avenue for homeownership for hundreds of thousands of Americans in the post-war decades,” according to the report, prepared for the Municipality of Anchorage by the McKinley Research Group.

    Nowadays, permitting, building and developing new mobile homes would cost about the same as constructing a single-family house or townhome. In the McKinley analysis, each new mobile home in the municipality would cost $226,000 to $332,000 — and that’s if you could even get ahold of the land and receive the right permits.

    To address the underlying factors, the administration’s two measures are intended to better use the property available in existing mobile home parks and make it easier to add small, affordable, potentially unconventional houses onto those properties.

    “We must take care of the housing we have, especially when it’s lower-cost housing. We need to make it easier to repair existing homes. And we need to allow all forms of safe housing in mobile home parks,” Mayor Suzanne LaFrance said in an emailed statement. “That’s exactly what these two reforms do.”

    Red tape and repairs

    One of the new ordinances provides flexibility for adding new, small housing models, both in mobile home parks, as well as on other residential properties.

    The second eliminates red tape around repairs and renovations to all kinds of residential properties, but it would be particularly applicable to the kind of older structures that don’t align with today’s building codes.

    Both measures have been working their way through the Planning and Zoning Commission process this summer, and could go before the Assembly for approval later this fall.

    “As you drive around, you just see the awful conditions a lot of these trailer parks are in, and we know it’s a source of affordable housing,” said Graham Downey, a special assistant to the mayor who has worked closely on the new measures. “These ordinances are really about making it easier to repair existing housing.”

    In the latest draft of the first ordinance, a copy of which was provided by Downey, the term “mobile home” is replaced in city code with “relocatable dwelling units.” The broadened term includes single- and double-wide trailers, but also “any manufactured home … tiny home, or other type of small dwelling that can be moved and certified as safe for permanent occupancy” by either Housing and Urban Development standards or by a local building official.

    It could also include intermodal shipping containers, typically called conexes in Alaska, if they can be modified in a way that meets residential safety standards.

    Essentially, the ordinance adjusts Title 21 to add greater flexibility to what kinds of structures can go into the mobile home parks that are already scattered across town.

    “It does not change where trailer parks are allowed,” Downey said. “What we’re doing is allowing these other types of units to be used in the trailer parks.”

    The other significant change is code density, boosting the maximum number of units allowed in a mobile home park from eight per acre to 25 per acre.

    The measure would not permit new mobile home parks or “relocatable dwelling unit communities” to easily be added in other residential zoning districts.

    But it would give property owners more options if they want to add a tiny home or converted shipping container to their private lots.

    “Relocatable dwelling units may be used as an accessory dwelling unit only if placed on a permanent foundation,” the draft ordinance states.

    The second ordinance allows “more flexibility for the reconstruction or rehabilitation of nonconforming structures.” In the world of planning and zoning, “nonconformity” has a specific technical definition: It means elements that were legal and up to code when the home was built, but through revisions to local rules and standards, they would not be allowed today. Houses or buildings with those older design elements have been grandfathered into legality, but they are officially “nonconforming.”

    One problem identified by the LaFrance administration in the city’s housing shortage is that building owners are sometimes leery of renovating aging structures because in seeking permits to update one part of the property, they become liable for bringing it fully into compliance.

    For example, the owner of a house or a traielr from the 1960s may want to replace the roof, but to get the permits to do so, they may have to also bring the driveway and heating system up to code, too. That raises the price tag significantly.

    The new measure extends beyond just mobile homes and would apply to a fuller range of property owners, Downey said, and is “really about helping people repair their own properties without having to address unrelated zoning issues.”

    According to a memorandum submitted to the Planning and Zoning Commission by Daniel Mckenna-Foster, head of the city’s Long-Range Planning Division, the ordinance would allow more renovation work to occur without requiring a zoning code review.

    “While previously only small internal changes were allowed, now, any internal changes are allowed as long as they don’t increase the footprint of the building,” Mckenna-Foster wrote in the memorandum from June.

    Likewise, the measure would raise the financial threshold on a renovation project that would require a review by the city.

    Currently, if a renovation at a commercial or multifamily structure is projected to cost 10% or more of the property’s assessed value, the owner must also fix the unrelated zoning issues, even if they’ve established grandfather rights. The new ordinance raises that threshold to 50% of the property’s value. A building owner could repair their roof without being required to also modernize the driveway or landscaping.

    Code, cost squeeze out mobile homes

    The new proposals come as the LaFrance administration is pursuing a number of policy changes aimed at making it easier to build new homes, fix up old ones and encourage new forms of development.

    “We know Anchorage needs to build and rehabilitate a lot more housing, and that’s why my administration developed our 10,000 Homes in Ten Years strategy,” LaFrance said in a statement Monday. “Around half of those homes should come from rehabilitating aging properties in the Municipality. And it’s clear our community needs many more affordable and entry-level housing options like mobile homes.”

    Part of the reason Downey and others who are focused on housing policy say they are digging into Title 21 is because restrictive measures in recent iterations of the code effectively zoned certain forms of housing out of existence in Anchorage.

    Mobile home parks are perhaps the starkest example.

    “In Anchorage, and nationally, a backlash against (Mobile Home Communities) began in the 1980s and centered around the often poor maintenance of these neighborhoods, the concentration of poverty, and the unsightliness of communities that were not built to the same standards as other subdivisions,” the McKinley report states. “Regulations to make the construction of (Mobile Home Communities) more difficult have proliferated, and in Anchorage these regulations were written into the revised Title 21 Housing Code passed by the Anchorage Assembly in 2012.”

    Of the 38 mobile home parks in the municipality, 12 of them are big enough that they account for 80% of the overall mobile home units, and “the average build year of units … is 1977,” said the McKinley report.

    The smaller parks, with fewer than 100 units, tend to be older, on average built in 1966.

    When the McKinley analysis broke down why no new mobile homes and mobile home parks have come to market in Anchorage since 1990, they found a number of factors making the proposition prohibitively expensive.

    There’s far less easily developable land available in the Anchorage Bowl than there was in the 1960s and 1970s. The last local business that built “prefabricated houses in Anchorage closed in 2022,” and the cost of buying similar units in the Lower 48 and shipping them to Alaska adds “more than 40% to the total cost of each unit,” the report said.

    In terms of infrastructure, local rules require that “developers bear the cost of installing or extending water and wastewater, road, and other utility” components, the report said.

    “New (Mobile Home Communities) would likely not be able to provide housing units for sale at rates much below what is currently available in the condominium and townhouse market,” the report found.

    But one of the biggest factors was the overhaul of the Title 21 code that happened between 2009 and 2012, which made it “exceedingly difficult” to build new trailer parks, the report said. One nail in the coffin was density: New developments couldn’t have more than four units per acre, which, the McKinley report concluded, “precludes any efficient construction” of a trailer park.

    Since basically all of the trailers and trailer parks in Anchorage are older, just about every home is out of compliance with modern codes and standards.

    “Consequently, redevelopment of older (Mobile Home Communities) is a costly proposition, as the entire development would have to conform to the new standards,” the McKinley report notes. That would mean increasing the space between units, widening roads, adding landscaping — expenses that most landowners are not able or willing to finance.

    Because new parks are not being built, and there are few new mobile homes being added to the overall housing stock, once a mobile home goes away it is typically not replaced.

    That presents an additional liability for municipal housing officials because roughly a quarter of the mobile homes in Anchorage have five or more people living in them, according to the McKinley analysis.

    Factoring in all of the costs associated, potential new buyers of mobile homes in Anchorage would be paying a minimum of $3,375 a month in the cheapest scenario, the McKinley analysts calculated.

    “The resulting available housing units, while representing new construction and new homeownership opportunities, would nevertheless be more expensive than most low- to moderate-income households could afford,” the report states.

    Among the policy changes recommended by McKinley are infrastructure subsidies, targeted investment funds and greater allowable density in mobile home communities.

    Correction: This article has been updated to better reflect requirements in the non-conformity review process with respect to residential and commercial properties. The financial threshold for requiring nonconformity updates applies to commercial properties, not internal renovations to residential units.

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  • San Francisco NIMBYism strikes again as one neighborhood recalls a city supervisor who created a new park for the whole city to enjoy | Fortune

    During the coronavirus pandemic, the city closed a stretch of a four-lane highway along San Francisco’s Pacific Coast and made it an automobile-free sanctuary where bicyclists and walkers flocked to exercise and socialize under open skies and to the sound of crashing waves.

    But with the post-pandemic return to school and work, resentment grew among neighborhood residents who relied on the artery to get around. Some blamed the district city supervisor who helped make the change permanent by placing on a citywide ballot a measure to turn the 2-mile (3.2-kilometer) stretch into a new park.

    On Tuesday, district voters will decide whether to recall Supervisor Joel Engardio.

    The recall of a local supervisor who represents one-tenth of a city of 800,000 might seem like minor politics. But the election highlights a San Francisco in flux and a still cranky, even emboldened electorate as leaders prepare to make tough decisions about the city’s future.

    Controversial housing proposal collides with NIMBY legacy

    The action also speaks to San Francisco’s long history of “Not In My Backyard,” or NIMBY politics. Since the 1970s, the formerly bohemian city’s unusually direct form of democracy has increasingly empowered small, local groups to block development with wider social benefits, resulting in a relatively small city that competes with New York and Los Angeles for the title of worst housing crisis in the country. Although San Francisco is relatively dense by American standards, much of the city has height limits in place, preventing an even denser and more affordable city.

    Researchers from Australia studied San Francisco NIMBYism in 2021 and found that it “continues to dominate the dialog at public hearings on development proposals. Planning meetings appear to be dominated by older, white, and financially stable residents, and this is a major (though not sole) barrier to the city’s social mix.” In fact, the scourge of housing advocates, single-family zoning, was invented in the Bay Area, in nearby Berkeley, in the 1910s.

    Tuesday’s vote comes as San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie faces his biggest test with a controversial plan to construct taller, denser buildings with tens of thousands of new housing units, which San Francisco very much needs. Engardio, who is a moderate Democrat like Lurie, supports the plan, which has strong opposition in his district.

    The recall election will be the city’s third in four years. It’s fueled by many of the same people who tossed out three liberal school board members in February 2022 followed by the ouster of politically progressive San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin in June of that year.

    “Anybody that thought that the recalls were just a rejection of progressive politics is wrong,” said Jason McDaniel, who teaches political science at San Francisco State University.

    He says other politicians are getting the message, “and it’s going to make them less likely to embrace difficult positions.”

    “This recall is really about the future of our city,” said Engardio in an interview with The Associated Press. “Do we want to be a city that just preserves itself in amber and goes back in time? Or do we want to be a city that innovates, thinks ahead, is forward-looking and welcomes new people?”

    Who is Joel Engardio?

    Engardio, a crime victims’ advocate, supported the previous recalls. He was among detractors who said Boudin was too lenient on crime and the San Francisco Unified School Board too focused on progressive politics, including renaming 44 school sites.

    Later in 2022, he defeated an incumbent to win one of 11 seats on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Engardio represents the Sunset District, a low-key residential neighborhood of single-family homes on the west side with a high Chinese population.

    Last year, he was one of five city supervisors who placed a proposal to permanently ban cars from the Great Highway on the November 2024 ballot. Measure K passed citywide, but failed in his district. In May, recall petitioners submitted 10,500 valid signatures to qualify the initiative for Tuesday’s ballot.

    A new park divides the city

    On an overcast afternoon last week, people jogged and rode bikes down what had once been called the Great Highway. Moms pushed babies in strollers on a road divided by a median of blowing sand and creeping ice plant succulents, still striped with dotted white lines marking what used to be driving lanes. An older man walked by slowly, using a cane.

    The new park dubbed Sunset Dunes is popular with many San Francisco residents — but not so much with those in its home community.

    Backers of the recall say Engardio betrayed his constituents by going back on support for a compromise that would have kept the highway open to vehicles during the week and banned them on weekends. They say he failed to listen to their concerns about quality of life and traffic safety in the district.

    Engardio says he was always clear about his preference for an oceanside park and only supported the compromise because it was up against a ballot measure at the time that would have fully reopened the highway to cars.

    His supporters say the ocean belongs to everyone and that the supervisor is being targeted unfairly. They also say the city has made significant changes to mitigate traffic flow through the district.

    Dueling campaigns

    Wearing a blue cap and white sneakers, volunteer Heather Davies slips a recall flier under a door. At another house, she thanks a man for returning his ballot with a yes vote.

    Davies says the recall is what regular people like herself have to counter the interests of Engardio’s wealthy donors, including Yelp co-founder Jeremy Stoppelman and Ripple cryptocurrency co-founder Chris Larsen. The tech entrepreneurs have contributed a combined $375,000 to support the anti-recall campaign, which has raised more than $800,000 total; the pro-recall campaign has raised about $250,000.

    “We don’t have the levers to pull in democracy like these guys. They can flood the market with social media, and we can’t afford to do that,” she said.

    But Alex Wong, a father of two young children, says he supports Engardio because the supervisor has always endorsed family-friendly policies, like building more housing and improving schools.

    “The recall itself is centered around a road closure that the rest of the city voted on in support. It may not be popular among my neighbors, but I don’t think that in itself is worthy enough of a recall,” Wong said. “The Sunset is better than this.”

    Janie Har, Nick Lichtenberg, The Associated Press

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  • More affordable housing opens in Durham with a new look

    DURHAM, N.C. — Some affordable housing units in the Bull City are getting a makeover.

    The Durham Housing Authority reopened the Vanguard Apartments and recently broke ground on the Dillard Street Apartments. It’s an effort to open up more affordable housing opportunities while also creating a new vision for what these communities can look like.

    What You Need To Know

    • Durham Housing Authority reopened Vanguard Apartments in May

    • The $200 million redevelopement project will replace 214 old unites with 538 mixed-income homes

    • 21 Vanguard units are set aside for former residents

    • The next phase, Commerce Street Apartments, is expected to open in 2026 with 172 units


    Inside her newly developed apartment at the Vanguard, Bianca Rivera says it’s finally setting in that this is her space to call home.

    “I’ve been sitting outside on the patio and just enjoying it,” Rivera said as she reflected on the new space she now shares with her 10-year-old son, Micah.

    Rivera and her son previously lived at Liberty Street Apartments before moving to Oxford Manor to live temporarily as the city made space for new developments.

     She says that she and her family can now feel safe.

    “There was trash all over the place, and me coming here and not seeing trash all over the place, not seeing drug activity or gun violence,” she explained, “so far, that has made a big change in our lives.”

    The Vanguard Apartments just reopened after a major renovation as part of Durham Housing Authority’s efforts to build what’s officials hope will be vibrant, mixed-income communities. 

    The $200-million redevelopment project began with two aging properties downtown.

    It’s a four-phase project. In all, 214 units will be replaced with 538 new homes, 348 being affordable and 190 being market rate. Twenty-one units are prioritized for former residents like Rivera.

    Interim CEO of DHA Anthony Snell says this project and others to come reflect the importance of building safe, beautiful and affordable homes for people no matter the socioeconomic status.

    “I know people think it’s innovative and it’s a model, right? We are just building communities that are totally inclusive of the entire community,” Snell said. “And so, that’s where we think we’re going to have our success.”

    The need for more affordable housing is urgent.

    In a recent National Low Income Housing Coalition report, it found that there are over 330,000 extremely low-income households in North Carolina. For every 100 of them, there are only 41 affordable rental homes available.

    For Rivera, the move is more than just about having a new space. It has allowed her to dream big.

    “It has helped me grow into wanting more and bigger and better living in the future,” she said.

    The first phase, the Vanguard, officially opened in May with 72 new homes. The next step is the Commerce Street Apartments, where construction began in July 2024. It is expected to open in 2026 with 172 units for both seniors and families. Phases three and four will add nearly 300 more units for individuals and families.

    Ryan Hayes-Owens

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  • California Lawmakers Propose Overhaul of L.A.’s Mansion Tax

    Lawmakers in Sacramento look to make changes to the 2022 bill

    1316 Beverly Grove Pl
    Credit: (Via Zillow/The MLS)

    State lawmakers proposed a new bill to overhaul measure ULA or L.A. ‘s ‘mansion tax’ on Tuesday. 

    The new bill, SB-423, aims to take out parts of ULA that critics have said do more harm than good to the current housing market. By reducing the taxes imposed by Measure ULA for people looking to sell commercial buildings constructed in the last 15 years, think apartment buildings, offices, and shopping centers. 

    Measure ULA was originally intended to raise taxes on high-value properties and funnel that money into affordable housing projects and programs to alleviate homelessness. The measure was passed by city voters in 2022, and since April 2023, the city has levied a tax on sales of properties worth $5 million or more. 

    The ‘Mansion tax’ did not only apply to celebrity single-family houses in the hills, but also commercial buildings, including apartment complexes. While backers say that it is working as intended, those who oppose the tax say that it is having a much larger impact on slowing the development of new housing. This leads to making affordability worse in an already tight housing market. 

    With the higher increase of taxes on higher-value property, it can scare away developers, leaving L.A. with less housing than it started with. 

    Mott Smith, adjunct professor of real estate development at the USC Price School told LAist, “The units that we need to support all the households coming into the city — or that have to move and deal with their lives — those aren’t happening,” he said. “And when we squeeze the housing supply, the poor feel it the most.”

    Tara Nguyen

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  • Australia debuts first multi-story 3D printed home – built in just 5 months

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    A major milestone in construction has arrived. This time from Western Australia. Contec Australia has completed the nation’s first multi-story 3D concrete printed home. Located in Tapping near Perth, the two-story residence was finished in just five months. Most impressive? The structural walls were 3D printed in only 18 hours of active printing time.

    This matters because it points to where housing might be heading here, too. With rising costs, labor shortages and a push for more sustainable building methods, this kind of breakthrough could shape the future of American neighborhoods.

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    SUSTAINABLE 3D-PRINTED HOME BUILT PRIMARILY FROM SOIL

    Why this build is a game-changer

    Contec’s project isn’t just a prototype. It demonstrates how 3D concrete printing can bring major benefits to everyday housing. Compared to traditional masonry construction, the Tapping home achieved:

    • 22% cost savings on structural walls
    • 3x the strength of brick (50MPa vs 15MPa)
    • Faster delivery, with the entire project completed in just five months

    Contec Australia prints the final wall of the second level of a multi-story 3D printed home in Perth. (Contec Australia)

    And it doesn’t cut corners on durability. The walls are fire-resistant, water-resistant, termite-proof and cyclone rated, features U.S. regions facing hurricanes, floods and wildfires could find especially appealing.

    AMERICA’S LESSONS FROM WORLD’S LARGEST 3D-PRINTED SCHOOLS

    exterior of a modern home

    Exterior of a multi-story 3D concrete printed home located in Tapping, Australia. (Contec Australia)

    How 3D concrete printing works

    Instead of stacking bricks, Contec’s robotic printer extrudes a specialized concrete mix based on a digital 3D model. The mix sets in under three minutes, allowing new layers to be stacked without scaffolding or formwork.

    The walls are printed in precise layers over the course of 18 hours of active machine time. Once the structural shell is complete, traditional crews step in to add the roof, wiring, windows, flooring and finishing touches.

    WORLD’S BIGGEST 3D-PRINTED SCHOOLS ARE UNDERWAY IN QATAR

    interior of a while bathroom

    Bathroom of a multi-story 3D concrete printed home located in Tapping, Australia. (Contec Australia)

    Benefits that could apply in the U.S.

    Speed: Structural walls finished in 18 hours; full build completed in five months.
    Cost efficiency: 22% cheaper than comparable masonry builds in WA.
    Design freedom: Complex shapes, curves and openings without added expense.
    Sustainability: 30% lower CO₂ emissions than conventional concrete and minimal waste.
    Durability: More than three times stronger than brick, fire- and water-resistant and able to withstand harsh weather.

    dining room next to kitchen in modern home

    Dining room of a multi-story 3D concrete printed home located in Tapping, Australia. (Contec Australia)

    How this compares to 3D printed homes in the U.S.

    You may have already heard of Icon, the Texas-based startup that has been pioneering 3D printed homes. Icon’s builds include entire neighborhoods of single-story houses in Austin, as well as experimental multi-level projects. However, most of Icon’s multi-story designs rely on a hybrid approach, with 3D printing for the ground floor and timber or steel frames for the upper levels.

    That’s what makes the Tapping project stand out. Contec printed the structural walls for both stories in just 18 hours of active printing time, something not yet widely seen in the U.S. This could signal the next step for American 3D printing: scaling beyond single-story housing into more complex multi-story designs.

    BRICKS MADE FROM RECYCLED COFFEE GROUNDS REDUCE EMISSIONS AND COSTS

    bed with white comforters in modern home

    Bedroom of a multi-story 3D concrete printed home located in Tapping, Australia.  (Contec Australia)

    How much does a 3D printed home cost?

    One of the biggest questions people have is price. Contec hasn’t shared the exact cost of the Tapping home, but the company says it delivered the structural walls 22% cheaper than a standard masonry build. That saving adds up when you consider how much of a home’s budget goes toward labor and materials.

    In the U.S., companies like Icon have priced 3D printed homes starting around $100,000 to $150,000, depending on size and finishes. While final costs vary by region, land and design, the potential savings from reduced labor and faster timelines make 3D printing an attractive option as housing costs continue to rise.

    VERTICAL TINY HOMES REDEFINE COMPACT LIVING

    interior view of dining area of home

    Kitchen and dining room of a multi-story 3D concrete printed home located in Tapping, Australia. (Contec Australia)

    What this means for you

    For American homeowners, builders and communities, the Tapping project shows how 3D concrete printing could offer faster, cheaper and more resilient housing. Imagine moving into a new home months earlier, with walls that are stronger, more sustainable and better able to handle extreme conditions.

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    Kurt’s key takeaways

    3D printed housing is moving from concept to reality. This home shows that walls can go up in just 18 hours, and a full build can be finished in only a few months. That kind of speed changes the way we think about construction. With rising costs and ongoing labor shortages, builders need new solutions. 3D concrete printing offers a path to faster, more affordable and more sustainable homes without cutting corners on strength or safety.

    The big question is, if a 3D-printed home became available in your area, would you move in? Let us know by writing to us at Cyberguy.com.

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    Copyright 2025 CyberGuy.com. All rights reserved. 

    Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson is an award-winning tech journalist who has a deep love of technology, gear and gadgets that make life better with his contributions for Fox News & FOX Business beginning mornings on “FOX & Friends.” Got a tech question? Get Kurt’s free CyberGuy Newsletter, share your voice, a story idea or comment at CyberGuy.com.

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  • La Alma Lincoln Park residents weigh new Broncos stadium at Burnham Yard: ‘It’s going to change everything’

    Two schools of thought flitter through the streets just behind the Denver Broncos’ planned future home, separated by just one block but standing an entire world apart.

    On a sunny Tuesday morning, 35-year-old Rita Guerrero stepped out from her door on North Mariposa Avenue, lively pup Olive barely contained by her leash. Guerrero bought her home in the La Alma Lincoln Park neighborhood five years ago, and smiled when she thinks of the wealth of possibilities that now exist a quarter mile away at the defunct Burnham Yard.

    The Broncos just announced their plans to construct a new stadium in her backyard, and it could mean a livelier neighborhood. And exciting features for families. And increased property values.

    “This is very exciting,” Guerrero beamed. “I’m very happy. It’ll be great for the team, great for the neighborhood. I really see that there’s, probably — I mean, there really can only be upside.”

    Broncos name Burnham Yard preferred site for new stadium development

    On a cloudy Tuesday afternoon, a few hundred feet away, 46-year-old Nicole Jones and 51-year-old Desiree Maestas crossed onto North Lipan Street, discussing the change to come. Jones has lived all her life a few houses up the block, and frowned when she thinks of the wealth of possibilities that now exist with the Broncos’ professed plan to develop at Burnham Yard.

    It could mean more traffic. And more construction. And increased property values.

    “I think it’s going to change everything,” Jones said. “Because everything’s going to go up. Especially in this neighborhood, everything’s going to go up. And a lot of us ain’t even going to be able to afford to live here anymore. Because the stadium is going to be right in our neighborhood. Right in our backyard.”

    “So, yeah,” she repeated, somber. “We’re not going to be able to afford to live here no more.”

    Residents of La Alma Lincoln Park who spoke to The Denver Post on Tuesday were split on the complicated reality that now awaits, after the Broncos officially announced that they’ve zeroed in on Burnham Yard as the planned site of a privately-financed mixed-use stadium district.

    Some residents lamented the change that continues to rattle the historic Denver neighborhood, one that has already experienced generations of displacement. Some residents championed the city’s efforts to keep the team local: they are the Denver Broncos, 39-year-old Barbara Ott emphasized from her porch, not the Lone Tree Broncos.

    The general median is a sort of cautious optimism, as community leader Simon Tafoya put it.

    Luca Evans, Elizabeth Hernandez

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  • DEI is the real cause of America’s housing crisis

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    Why doesn’t Hermes just produce more bags and then everyone can have a Birkin? That’s basically the argument of people pressing President Donald Trump to declare a housing emergency. 

    The fact is there’s plenty of housing, just not in the most desirable neighborhoods. Population growth is slowing, deportations are increasing and new home construction already outpaces family creation. The shortage is a myth created by activists so they can force residential living patterns to conform to DEI dogma.

    A simple calculation proves it. The Census Bureau collects annual data on both the number of households and the available housing stock. The latest data shows 131.3 million households and 146.5 million housing units, an excess supply of over 15 million units.

    The housing shortage is a myth created by activists so they can force residential living patterns to conform to DEI dogma. (Jordan Vonderhaar/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

    Activists cannot deny the excess so instead, they argue that it is not enough.

    BLAME DRUGS AND MENTAL ILLNESS, NOT PRESIDENT TRUMP, FOR THE CHAOS GRIPPING OUR STREETS

    A well-functioning housing market has a natural vacancy rate. Just as labor markets need unemployment for efficient job matching, housing markets need vacancies for buyer-seller alignment, renovations and seasonal use. 

    Activists say that rate should be 12% instead of the current 10%, and to hit that target an additional 1 million units are needed. But they are cherry-picking the baseline rate. Census data tracked since 1965 shows vacancy rates have fluctuated wildly, ranging from 8.3% to 14.5%. There is no stable “natural rate.” Today’s 10% rate falls well within this historical range. When you stop using artificially high assumptions, the shortage disappears entirely.

    Perhaps anticipating this, activists also argue that demand is higher than census data shows. First, they claim construction has fallen behind historical trends, from 1.5 million units annually in 1968-2000 to 1.23 million since 2001, creating a cumulative deficit. Second, they argue for massive pent-up demand, claiming millions of people would form separate households if housing were cheaper, using statistical models to estimate 3-5 million “missing” households.

    HERE’S WHY HELPING THE HOMELESS REBUILD THEIR LIVES IS KEY TO AMERICA’S FUTURE SUCCESS

    Both arguments assume demographic conditions that no longer exist. America has transitioned from rapid population growth of over 1% annually before 2000 to a more stable 0.5% today, projected to reach 0.1% by 2055. The next 30 years will add 23 million people versus 70 million in the prior 30 years, reflecting lower birth rates and longer lifespans. Deaths will exceed births by 2038 as the population matures. Meanwhile, the current administration targets deporting one million people annually, a figure not included in Census projections that assume stable immigration.

    Like Birkin bags, the real problem isn’t supply, it’s that people want exclusive neighborhoods, and no amount of construction changes that reality. What’s really going on here is that activists are manufacturing a housing crisis in order to impose a DEI regime on where people choose to live.

    This is a corruption of the Fair Housing Act (FHA), which was focused on equality of opportunity not results. The bill did aim to disrupt segregated living patterns but only through the narrow mechanism of eliminating overt housing discrimination. In particular, restrictive covenants, redlining and explicit racial barriers.

    TRUMP IS TRYING TO SAVE 100,000 AMERICAN LIVES WHILE DEMOCRATS LET CITIES SPIRAL OUT OF CONTROL

    As the legislative history records, the goal was to ensure families could live “where they wish and where they can afford,” acknowledging that financial capacity remained a valid constraint on housing choice.

    Today’s activists have abandoned that sensible framework. Instead, they want to eliminate disparities in living patterns by lowering community standards through government coercion. Their chief target is local zoning laws, which serve the important function of maintaining community character. It’s why Washington, D.C., which bans skyscrapers, doesn’t look like Manhattan.

    New York City’s Economic Development Corporation exemplifies this approach, scolding neighborhoods like the Upper East Side, SoHo and the West Village for “restrictive land use regulations” that limit density. They explicitly note that “Community Districts producing the least affordable housing are disproportionately white.” Their demographic focus reveals the true agenda.

    CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINION

    The Obama administration weaponized this logic through HUD’s Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule, forcing towns that accepted federal funding to eliminate zoning laws and to provide detailed reports on racial demographics. The effort had an important political dimension. By forcing high-density, low-income housing into suburban communities, activists aimed to flip red areas blue.

    President Trump recognized the stakes in his first term, and tasked a White House team led by John McEntee to eliminate the rule, which they did in 14 days. Biden reinstated it, but HUD Secretary Scott Turner wisely eliminated it again soon after taking office.

    Unfortunately, some Republicans and Libertarians have fallen for the housing shortage hoax and still don’t realize that eliminating sensible neighborhood standards like zoning are a stalking horse for imposing DEI quotas. This is a problem because housing activists continue to push their radical agenda aggressively at the state level.

    CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

    In 2021, Massachusetts passed a controversial law forcing the 177 towns along the commuter rail line to change their suburban zoning laws to permit high-density low-income housing. The bill was drafted to look optional and incentive-based, but officials are enforcing it as mandatory. Similar efforts are afoot nationwide, amplified by liberal columnists like Paul Krugman calling for “increasing population density,” meaning eliminating suburban single-family zoning.

    Democrats have brought DEI quotas to every institution in America. Your neighborhood is next. That’s the real housing crisis.

    CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM DANIEL HUFF

    Paige Bronitsky is a property attorney who served as a deputy assistant secretary at HUD and as a White House senior advisor in the first Trump administration. Follow @PaigeBronitsky.

    Daniel Huff served as a deputy assistant secretary at HUD and White House lawyer in the first Trump administration. Follow @RealDanHuff.

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  • Healey seeks to streamline housing permits

    BOSTON — Gov. Maura Healey wants to streamline the state’s environmental regulatory process for building new homes as part of broader efforts to ease a shortage of housing.

    A set of draft regulations rolled out by the Healey administration on Tuesday would cut the review period for housing projects to a month by requiring developers to complete a “simplified” Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act review instead of a more detailed Environmental Impact Report, which can take up to a year.


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    By Christian M. Wade | Statehouse Reporter

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  • Raleigh Housing Authority launches new department to support families in need

    RALEIGH, N.C. — Finding a new home and making the transition can be challenging for families in public housing.

    The Raleigh Housing Authority has launched a new department, Resident Services, with a goal to better support them.

    What You Need To Know

    • More than 46,000 residents live in public housing across North Carolina, with an average household income of just over $15,000 a year

    • The Raleigh Housing Authority’s new Resident Services Department helps families transition to stable housing while connecting them to health care, food assistance and community resources

    • Finding enough available units and working with landlords who accept housing vouchers is a challenge

    • The authority is creating a self-sufficiency program focused on career and personal development to boost long-term economic independence



    Washing dishes in your own kitchen or having enough space for your children to play is something that some may take for granted, but for families like Tequita Jarman’s, it’s the biggest blessing.

    Jarman struggled with homelessness for years but found stability through the housing authority.

    “Them girls in they own rooms and they own spaces and they created their own spaces within their space? I like and love that,” Jarman said.

    The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development reports more than 46,000 residents live in public housing in North Carolina, with the average household income just over $15,000 a year. For many families, navigating the housing system is overwhelming, and access to support can be limited.

    That’s why the Raleigh Housing Authority has launched Resident Services, a new department designed to guide families through difficult transitions and connect them with critical resources.

    Relocation manager Sharon Sneed says her team focuses on helping families move into affordable, safe housing while offering additional support.

    “We are a team that comes in to support our families in transitioning from one location to the next… helping in supporting them, ensuring that they find housing that is affordable and decent and safe,” Sneed said.

    The department also works to connect residents with health care, food assistance and community programs, aiming to improve stability and quality of life. But the challenges are steep — from a lack of available units to landlords unwilling to accept housing vouchers.

    “When you have a family with the large size, sometimes that’s kind of hard for them to locate housing that they want, that they can afford, or if they can afford it with the voucher. Sometimes you have trouble finding the … landlords that will accept the assistance,” Sneed said.

    Despite these challenges, Jarman says it’s important to keep moving forward.

    “It’s going to be hard. It’s going to make you cry. You’re going to have moments where you had to cry when the kids ain’t looking, you know? But you gotta keep pushing,” she said.

    The housing authority says it is continuing to look for community partners, landlords and properties to expand its efforts. The agency is also developing a new program to help residents build self-sufficiency through personal and career development.

    Ryan Hayes-Owens

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  • Price Tracker: See grocery, housing and gas prices

    These days, it feels like everything costs more: groceries, housing, rent, gas. Now, you can track how prices are changing in your community.

    WTVD

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  • See how your cost of living has changed with the ABC Price Tracker

    The app includes prices for many of your basic needs, from food to housing to transportation, spanning a decade of data points.

    Tuesday, September 9, 2025 3:00PM

    The ABC Data Team has launched the Price Tracker, an interactive tool that provides up-to-date information on the price of household necessities in your area.

    It displays regional prices of essentials for the 100 largest U.S. metro areas over the last decade. Simply search for your area to see how the cost of living has changed for households like yours. Then select groceries, housing or utilities to drill down into each category of basic expenses.

    The ABC Price Tracker can help you answer questions like:

    • How have rent and other housing expenses changed over the last 10 years?


    • Which grocery items have seen the biggest price hikes nationwide?


    • When was the last time gas cost less than $3 per gallon in my area?

    The interactive tool will automatically update with the latest data available, so you can give your sticker shock a gut check.

    Go here to use the ABC Price Tracker.

    Copyright © 2025 KABC Television, LLC. All rights reserved.

    WLS

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  • 6 unit transitional housing complex nearing completion in Clermont

    CLERMONT, Fla. — Staff at New Beginnings of Central Florida in Clermont are working on move-in ready transitional housing, called New Beginnings Village.

    What You Need To Know

    • New Beginnings of Central Florida is finishing up construction on its transitional housing complex

    • Each unit is 670 square feet and has two bedrooms and one bathroom

    • Families do not have to pay to participate, but they have to participate in the program, which can last between six and nine months

    • Construction is expected to finish next month, then applications will open


    Community Relations Manager Jeremy Elliott said staff will connect residents with services as part of their Helping Hands program.

    He said there has been an 18% increase in the number of families in Lake County who are experiencing homelessness for the first time in the past year.

    “They can really focus on serving themselves — working on their things that are going to create longevity, but also savings and financial literacy,” Elliott said.

    The housing is conveniently located at the back of the property, next to the thrift shop.

    Elliott said the goal is to create a safe space in each of their six homes. Each unit is 670 square feet and has two bedrooms, one bathroom, a kitchen, living space, and an in-unit washer and dryer.

    He told Spectrum News it costs the nonprofit about $22,000 per family, but families do not pay anything as they participate in the program, which can last between six and nine months.

    “You’ve got to want it to be here, because it’s strenuous everyday doing that coursework, really working on yourself,” Elliott said. “It’s a rapid program so that we are able to get you into affordable housing, which is the next step, and open the door for the next family.”

    Elliott said construction is expected to wrap up next month. The total project has cost $1.4 million and was supported by multiple partners, who provided funding and donations to furnish the homes.

    The mission is close to his heart, as Elliott went through the program himself.

    “Being able to come back and walk and see someone else go through that process is emphatically the best gift I could ever see,” said Elliott.

    Applications are not live yet. Staff plan to open them closer to the construction completion date in October.

    Eligibility criteria:

    • Must be 18 or older
    • We serve single women, single mothers, and families (must be married)
    • Children ages 5-12 must be in school (no virtual)
    • Cannot have severe psychiatric issues that would contraindicate communal living with other residents and young children in a residential setting
    • Cannot be taking any controlled medications-prescribed or not
    • Must have a minimum of 6 months abstinence from substance abuse and /or be directly transferred/referred from another residential program
    • Must be willing and physically able to work 40 hours weekly, as this is a work therapy program
    • Willing and able to complete Life Skills Training Curriculum
    • Must be willing to attend church weekly and actively participate in Bible Study and Discipleship Program
    • No active warrants
    • No criminal history of murder, arson, battery, and sexual offenses (Level II)

    Emma Delamo

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  • Massachusetts lags in housing production despite units added in Healey’s term

    BOSTON — More than 90,000 housing units have been completed or entered development since Gov. Maura Healey took office, she said Wednesday, chipping away at the state’s estimated need for 220,000 homes by the end of the decade.

    Of the 90,400 units cited by Healey’s office, about 63,100 have been built and added to the state’s supply. Another 18,300 are under construction, 3,600 have secured state funding through the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, and 5,400 are privately financed proposals still in the pipeline.

    Despite the progress, Massachusetts still lags much of the country in housing production.

    An estimated 14,338 building permits were issued in Massachusetts in 2024, or 201 per 100,000 residents — the sixth-lowest rate in the nation. The national average was 281 per 100,000, according to an analysis by U.S. Data Labs, a platform developed by the Pioneer Institute providing state-level data on policy areas.

    By comparison, Maine issued 6,034 permits in 2024, or 429 per 100,000 residents. Vermont and New Hampshire also outpaced Massachusetts per capita, at 409 and 352 permits per 100,000 residents. In southern New England, permit rates were generally lower. Nationally, Idaho led with about 881 permits per 100,000 people, while Texas authorized the most permits overall at more than 225,756.

    Healey first highlighted the 90,354-unit figure in August on the anniversary of last summer’s housing bond law, which she said laid important groundwork for boosting supply. That number includes all homes completed, permitted, awarded or proposed since Healey took office.

    The housing law required cities and towns to allow accessory dwelling units, set up a $50 million “Momentum Fund” for stalled mixed-income projects and expanded financing tools for affordable and moderate-income housing.

    A breakdown provided by the administration shows only a portion of the total comes directly from that bond law. The Momentum Fund accounts for 461 units, while another 732 permits are tied to accessory dwelling units.

    Other programs include 1,525 units through the Housing Development Incentive Program — which was expanded in the 2024 housing law — and 10,566 from projects funded by the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities.

    Zoning mandates tied to older state laws also play a role: the MBTA Communities law accounts for about 5,200 units, and Chapter 40B for 8,360.

    The majority, however — more than two-thirds, or 63,510 units — falls under what the administration categorizes as “additional housing development” outside state-directed programs.

    “I’m focused every day on building more housing,” Healey said at a Bloomberg event in Boston on Wednesday.

    She continued, “Through tax credits for developers, changes to the law to make accessory dwelling units available by right, mill-to-housing conversions, office-to-housing conversions, and surplus state land, we’re making real progress. We started with a deficit of 220,000, and a year and a half in, we now have over 90,000 housing starts underway.”

    The U.S. Data Labs report also found Massachusetts ranks near the top in the value of new housing permitted. The average estimated value per permit here was $284,086, second only to Hawaii at $342,910.

    Sam Drysdale

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  • Lakeland approves plans to demolish affordable housing complex

    LAKELAND, Fla. — The Lakeland Housing Authority is one step closer to bringing new affordable housing for seniors to the area.

    What You Need To Know

    • Lakeland commissioners approved plans to tear down a 40-unit affordable housing complex, which has been part of the community since the 1970s
    • The Lakeland Housing Authority plans to replace Carrington Place with a 100-unit senior housing complex as part of a 10-year plan

    • Tenants like Sameria Timmons worry about being displaced, saying current families should benefit from redevelopment


    City commissioners recently approved the agency’s plans for the development, which include demolishing Carrington Place, an affordable multifamily housing complex that has been part of the Lakeland community since the 1970s.

    For the past 14 years, resident Sameria Timmons has spent much of her time outside tending to her garden. The front of her apartment may be small, but for Timmons, keeping it tidy is one way she has made Carrington Place feel like home — a home she says she never thought she would be forced to leave.

    “For people with kids, what are we supposed to do? I have two jobs and I just can’t up and still leave,” she said. “What about somebody who’s living off of disability because they’re sick, what are they supposed to do?”

    The mother of seven is one of many tenants with questions after learning about the Lakeland Housing Authority’s plan to demolish the 40-unit affordable housing complex. While she agrees the community is long overdue for a facelift, she believes current residents should be the ones to benefit from the improvements.

    “If (you’re going to) uplift the community with something new, you wouldn’t of made it an old person’s home,” Timmons said. “You would’ve built this and made it back to where we stand. If you want to build something new, you can build something new, but these people have been out here for years. A lot of people have been out here for years. You can at least put us back in the community then.”

    Ben Stevenson, president and CEO of the Lakeland Housing Authority, said his team is looking to replace Carrington Place with affordable senior housing to help meet the need in the city’s northwest side. He said the potential project is part of the agency’s 10-year plan, which is expected to bring in more than $200 million in redevelopment.

    “We have some other projects to address the multi-family need,” he said. “We said, ‘Let’s go with Carrington Place and make it a senior development,’ because now that the city allows you to go up multiple stories, three/four stories, we think we can do a 100-unit senior complex over there.”

    Stevenson said he understands change can be difficult, but his team will do everything they can to help residents relocate. That includes providing a list of housing options.

    “And we will try to have a combination of let’s say, relocation vouchers from the federal government,” he said. “We’ll also give relocation assistance like paying their security deposit, transfer fees. Also, provide transportation for the families that want to look at all the apartments.”

    In the meantime, Stevenson said the agency has been hosting monthly meetings to keep families informed. But Timmons and her neighbors say that so far, there has only been one.

    “So we’re still going to be clueless until they have the second meeting,” she said.

    The Lakeland Housing Authority still needs approval from the state of Florida and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) before it can move forward with the project. Stevenson said he expects to break ground at the Carrington Place site within the next year or two.

    Alexis Jones

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  • YFA to build affordable housing and support center

    PASCO COUNTY, Fla. — With a lack of safe and affordable housing being one of the primary reasons preventing families from reuniting with their kids in foster care, the recently approved $1.5 million in the state budget will allow Youth & Family Advocates (YFA), a child welfare agency serving 6,000 kids in West-Central Florida, to put families first in the fight for affordable housing.

    YFA is planning to break ground early next year on its Speer II housing complex in New Port Richey, which will feature 50 new units with one to three bedrooms.

    What You Need To Know

    • Recently approved $1.5 million in the state budget will allow Youth & Family Advocates (YFA) to break ground on new housing complex

    • YFA is planning to break ground early next year on its Speer II housing complex in New Port Richey, which will feature 50 new units with one to three bedrooms

    • YFA describes the project as a safety net and community hub for families to receive streamlined access to child welfare services and caseworkers


    It’s designed to serve 110 families, children and youth aging out of foster care. The goal is to assist families at risk of separation or foster care because of housing challenges, and minimize the trauma of family separation, according to YFA officials.

    “Safe for the children, safe for the family and something affordable for the family is critical for them to be successful in reunifying,” said YFA President and CEO Mark Wickham.

    “It’s the number one issue that our case managers talk about in terms of getting in the way of reunifying families. The latest statistic is that a person working minimum wage in this community would need to work 119 hours a week to afford a two-bedroom unit. Well, that’s three full-time positions,” Wickham continued.

    Providing comprehensive support and wraparound services to ensure stability and success is also a key focus through YFA’s planned 35,000 square foot Center for Children and Families, which will be built on Plathe Road across the street from the affordable housing complex on 10-acres of land owned by the nonprofit.

    YFA describes the project as a safety net and community hub for families to receive streamlined access to child welfare services and caseworkers.

    “It’s bringing together essential services and several agencies all under one roof, including Family Support Services, the lead child welfare agency for foster care and adoptions in Pasco and Pinellas, our case management program, and other not-for-profits to support families in this community. We also have Premier Health just up the road and an elementary school within walking distance. So, everything here is within a small area that anybody can walk to or be able to easily catch transportation,” said Wickham.

    The Speer II affordable housing complex will serve low-income families making 30% to 80% of the area median income.

    In addition to the $1.5 million in the state budget approved by Governor Desantis and sponsored by Republican State Senator Ed Hooper and Republican State Representative Brad Yeager this year, Pasco County and the Florida Department of Children & Families provided another $1.5 million in funding for both projects.

    “We are committed to building safe, affordable housing in this community, and Pasco County Commissioners are all on board for projects like this and getting them done.”

    Citrus, Hernando, Polk, Sumter, Highlands and Hardee counties are also part of YFA’s seven-county service area, and Wickham hopes to expand these projects beyond New Port Richey to their other counties in the near future.

    Erica Riggins

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  • Op-ed: Support the Location Shield Act to keep cell companies from exploiting our data

    The Massachusetts Location Shield Act (H. 86, S.197) under consideration by the Massachusetts legislature would prevent cell phone companies from exploiting information about users’ locations. The issue is about much more than an overload of annoying advertisements. It is about whether we the users decide who gets data about our private lives, or whether that decision lies with someone else.

    The Act aims to prevent companies from exploiting location data for marketing while preserving legitimate uses like emergency services and navigation. This is critically important legislation, and should be passed immediately.

    The Act is designed to prevent individuals and organizations that collect and buy location information from using it for any purposes not approved by users. There is also a carve-out for law enforcement which provides an additional tool to police to help keep us safe.

    Companies are already using the internet to bombard us with endless ads whenever we stumble onto a website, glance at an article or buy something on Amazon. Access to user location data allows commercial enterprises to track where we shop (they would know when we are in the Market Basket or Stop & Shop parking lots), which doctors we consult, and what our daily schedules are. Without the Act they would be free to market to us through an endless barrage of texts, and could link the data to other outlets, such as the internet. While targeted ads already affect us, location data has the potential to reach the next level of intrusion.

    But the potential uses are even more sinister than that. Because location information tracks our every movement, it has the potential to disclose when we are away from home, who we are meeting with, when we are most vulnerable. In its most nightmarish form, this data could be used by thieves, stalkers or other bad actors for criminal purposes. This is not just theoretical. Research by the American Civil Liberties Union shows this is already happening.

    This Act would prevent bad actors from getting the information in the first place by prohibiting the companies that collect it from selling to anyone that we the users have not approved.

    At the same time, the Act would not affect the use of cell data for legitimate purposes. First, users can provide permission to cell carriers to collect and sell their data. Second, there is a specific exemption for data collection in a law enforcement context. This exemption is narrowly drawn so that police cannot profile certain neighborhoods or populations. Instead, they must use the data only as part of complying with state or federal law, or as part of responding to an active emergency.

    A violation of this rule could result in a fine of three times the actual damages. While it would not impose any criminal penalties, the fines would be enough to deter companies from selling information. A complaint can be filed either by individuals harmed by a violation of the Act, or by the attorney general’s office. As a result, law enforcement can pursue not only criminal charges against stalkers or thieves, but also civil penalties against defendants who used cell data to commit their crimes. This has the potential to become a valuable tool for law enforcement to protect the public.

    The Act has bi-partisan support. It originally passed the House in 2024 unanimously. Four Republicans and one Independent have signed on to the Act, along with 33 Democrats, 38 of the 40 Mass. senators and 106 of the 160 state representatives have signed on as supporters.

    The Act is supported by the ACLU, a liberal organization. However, this is not a partisan issue. It is an issue of control. The question is whether we the people want control to rest with ourselves and the law enforcement organizations that protect us, or with commercial enterprises that have no concern for the motivations of anyone who might buy our location information.

    These provisions are not yet law in Massachusetts. If passed, Massachusetts would be the first state in the nation to have such a law. That said, Pennsylvania is considering similar legislation, following the Bay State’s lead.

    As laudable as the Act is, there is still work to be done to make it law. The legislature still needs to pass it, and the governor needs to sign it.

    I therefore urge readers to contact the governor, and their Massachusetts representatives and senators to show their support for this legislation and demand immediate passage of the Location Shield Act.

    Dave Flanagan is a resident of Westford. He is an in-house attorney for a medical device company and an adjunct lecturer at the Boston University School of Law.

    Dave Flanagan

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  • Bunker Hill tower One California Plaza goes into receivership

    A financially troubled skyscraper in downtown Los Angeles has gone into receivership as office landlords there struggle to keep their buildings leased.

    One California Plaza — the gleaming 42-story tower on Bunker Hill that was one of the most prestigious addresses in the city when it opened in the 1980s — has dropped 74% in value from its market peak.

    Earlier this year, the owners defaulted on their $300-million debt, set to mature in November, and faced foreclosure.

    At the request of lenders, a judge appointed Trigild, a receivership service, to take control of the 1 million-square-foot property, the Real Deal reported.

    One California Plaza is appraised at $121.2 million, down from $459 million in 2013, according to a Morningstar Credit report, real estate data provider CoStar said.

    Net cash flow at the property trailed expectations by 37% last year, and the building is now 62% leased after the departure of major tenants, including law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, which is set to relocate to Century City.

    Ownership of the property at 300 S. Grand Ave. includes Los Angeles landlord Rising Realty Partners, which declined to comment on the receivership. Co-owner DigitalBridge, a Boca Raton, Fla., investment company, did not respond in time for publication.

    In recent years, the downtown office market has shifted against landlords as many tenants have reduced their office footprints in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, when it became more common for employees to work remotely.

    Elevated interest rates recently have weighed on prices by making it difficult for building owners to refinance debt, pushing them into quick sales or foreclosures.

    Some downtown L.A. office tenants have expressed concern that the streets feel less safe than they did before the pandemic and have left for other local office centers, including in Century City.

    Downtown L.A. has 54 office buildings that are at immediate risk of devaluation and could result in nearly $70 billion in lost value over the next 10 years, creating a potential loss of $353 million in property tax revenue, according to a recent report by BAE Urban Economics.

    The report suggested converting some of them to housing because they potentially could have more value as apartments or condominiums, which could help mitigate expected tax losses.

    Converting just 10 big office buildings to housing would boost their combined assessed property value over a decade by $12 billion, adding $46 million in tax revenue and creating more than 3,800 residential units, the report said.

    The Gas Company Tower on Bunker Hill sold for around $200 million to Los Angeles County last year, down 68% from a $632-million valuation just four years ago, according to CoStar. The 777 Tower at 777 S. Figueroa St. was sold last year for $120 million, a 70% drop from its 2013 sale. EY Plaza at 725 S. Figueroa St., once valued at $446 million, is now worth about $150 million, a 66% decline.

    Roger Vincent

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  • How a Macy’s parking structure became L.A. latest luxury apartment complex

    An unlikely corner of one of L.A.’s once-famous/now-dead malls is open for business again this week as residents move into luxury apartments on the spot that used to be a Macy’s parking lot.

    The Westside Pavilion was one of the city’s premier shopping venues and a cultural touchstone for generations of Angelenos, appearing in movies, television shows and music videos.

    1992 photo of interior of Westside Pavilion that was designed like a Paris arcade.

    (Randy Leffingwell)

    Built on the site of California’s first drive-in movie theater, the center played prominent roles in the 1995 film “Clueless” and the video for musician Tom Petty’s 1989 hit “Free Fallin’.”

    But like many other indoor malls, the Westside Pavilion fell out of favor in the 21st century before closing in 2019 to be converted to offices for rent.

    Now the former mall also has housing, which is even more in demand than offices these days. New residents will be allowed to start moving in this week.

    On a spot once occupied by what the developer called an “absolutely horrible, obsolete” parking structure, there are now 201 luxury apartments — a six-story complex that includes townhouses with front doors that open onto a residential street.

    “You have your own stoop,” developer Lee Wagman said of the townhouses. “It’s kind of like a brownstone.”

    Developer Lee Wagman of GPI Companies stands in the rooftop lounge.

    Developer Lee Wagman of GPI Companies in the rooftop lounge area at the Overland & Ayres apartments.

    (Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)

    Wagman is managing partner of GPI Cos., the Los Angeles real estate company that built the Overland & Ayres apartments and converted the mall’s former Macy’s building into the West End office complex. The combined cost of both builds was $350 million.

    Wagman said the company got the temporary certificate of occupancy for the apartment complex just last week and move-ins can start as early as this week.

    The rest of the former mall was in the process of being converted to offices for rent to Google when it was purchased last year by UCLA. The university is turning the old shopping center into a nearly 700,000-square-foot research center that will focus on immunology, quantum science and engineering.

    The biomedical research center, which is set to open as early as next year, will be trying to tackle towering challenges such as curing cancer and preventing global pandemics.

    The pool area at Overland & Ayres.

    The pool area at Overland & Ayres.

    (Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)

    The new apartments will be convenient for people working at the research center or other nearby job centers, such as UCLA in Westwood, Century City or Culver City.

    As has grown more common for buildings competing at at the top of the apartment market, Overland & Ayres has amenities such as a gym with a resort-style pool deck and spa, an outdoor lawn for working out, a sauna and a cold plunge tub.

    It has a large rooftop space with both indoor and outdoor lounging, dining areas and gas grills. There is a game room and two event kitchens. The building also includes an outdoor dog park and a spa for pets.

    The dog park at the new Overland & Ayres Apartments.

    The dog park at the Overland & Ayres Aapartments.

    (Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)

    Services available to tenants for a fee include personal training and private yoga instruction, dry cleaning pickup and delivery, car washing, dog walking, grocery delivery and housekeeping. Plans also call for commercial tenants along Overland Avenue that would serve the building, such as a restaurant or Pilates studio.

    Rents range from $3,800 per month for a studio apartment to $8,500 per month for a townhouse.

    The mall makeover is part of a decades-long trend of repurposing dead shopping centers, devastated by the pivot to online shopping.

    Once the kings of retail, indoor shopping centers fell out of favor and lost customers to e-commerce, as well as outdoor “lifestyle” centers — places such as the Grove and Westfield Century City, which feature fancy restaurants, entertainment and pleasant spaces to hang out, even if you’re not buying anything.

    The kitchen and living room area of a two-bedroom den unit at the new Overland & Ayres Apartments.

    The kitchen and living room area of a two-bedroom den unit at the Overland & Ayres apartments.

    (Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)

    The Sherman Oaks Galleria, a legendary indoor mall used in the filming of “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” and “Valley Girl,” is now mostly offices.

    Lakewood Center, one of the largest enclosed malls in Los Angeles County, spanning 2 million square feet, has been sold to developers who plan to transform it by adding housing, green spaces and entertainment venues.

    “A lot of malls now are going towards mixed use,” said Wagaman, who helped turn an indoor mall in Pasadena into an outdoor mall with apartments more than two decades ago.

    It is not just old mall space. Struggling office buildings are also looking at transitioning to residences.

    With downtown L.A.’s office rental market struggling with high vacancies and falling values, stakeholders are lobbying for city support to convert high-rises to housing. The hope is that this could help address the city’s persistent housing shortage.

    Among the suggested targets for conversion are elite Financial District towers that commanded top rents before the COVID-19 pandemic’s stay-at-home orders shut down offices, leaving many buildings more than one-third vacant.

    Roger Vincent

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  • The housing market is no longer a wealth-building engine as home prices continue to slump

    High home prices and mortgage rates have created unaffordable conditions for many Americans, but the housing market’s ability to create more wealth has sputtered.

    That’s because even as home prices continue to hover around record levels, they are also edging lower and lagging behind the rate of inflation, which has heated up amid President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

    “For the first time in years, home prices are failing to keep pace with broader inflation,” said Nicholas Godec, head of Fixed Income Tradables & Commodities at S&P Dow Jones Indices, in a statement on Tuesday. The last time that happened was mid-2023.

    The latest S&P Cotality Case-Shiller home price data showed that the 20-city index fell 0.3% in June from the prior month, marking the fourth consecutive monthly decline.

    On an annual basis, the 20-city composite was up 2.1%, down from a 2.8% increase in the previous month, and the national index saw a 1.9% yearly gain, down from 2.3%. Meanwhile, the consumer price index rose 2.7% in June from a year ago.

    “This reversal is historically significant: During the pandemic surge, home values were climbing at double-digit annual rates that far exceeded inflation, building substantial real wealth for homeowners,” Godec added. “Now, American housing wealth has actually declined in inflation-adjusted terms over the past year—a notable erosion that reflects the market’s new equilibrium.”

    Weak prices suggest underlying housing demand remains muted, he said, despite the spring and summer historically being the peak period for homebuying.

    In fact, this year’s selling season has been a bust. While sales of existing homes have ticked up recently, they are still subdued and prices are flat. In addition, sales of new homes are slumping with prices down.

    Conditions have been so dire that Moody’s Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi sounded the alarm on the housing market even louder last month.

    In Godec’s view, the recent shift in the housing market could represent a new normal—but one that also has a positive angle.

    “Looking ahead, this housing cycle’s maturation appears to be settling around inflation-parity growth rather than the wealth-building engine of recent years,” he said.

    That’s as pandemic-era hot spots in the Sun Belt have cooled off with demand increasingly tilting toward established industrial centers that enjoy sustainable fundamentals like employment growth, greater affordability, and favorable demographics.

    “While this represents a loss of the extraordinary gains homeowners enjoyed from 2020-2022, it may signal a healthier long-term trajectory where housing appreciation aligns more closely with broader economic fundamentals rather than speculative excess,” Godec added.

    Meanwhile, analysts at EY-Parthenon sounded gloomier about the housing market in a report that also came out on Tuesday, predicting that home prices will turn negative on an annual basis by year-end due to low demand and rising inventories.

    Home listings are up 25% from a year ago, and inventories have risen for 21 consecutive months. Homebuilders are also cautious given that demand is under pressure and construction costs are still elevated.

    “Looking forward, the housing market is expected to stay stagnant, as slowing income growth and persistently high borrowing costs continue to limit demand,” the EY report said. “While proposed changes to the regulatory environment can help improve builder sentiment, elevated construction costs due to higher tariffs along with ample inventories will continue to constrain construction activity.”

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    Jason Ma

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