Liam Dillon

@liamjdillon.com

7439 Followers 304 Following

Covering housing in Los Angeles and California for POLITICO.

Spencer Pratt "war" video appears to end with Teddy Roosevelt laughing
CA Governor's office claim touting largest reduction in unsheltered homelessness in 16 years.
The recommendations advanced today focus on strengthening implementation and long-term impact, including new pathways to move unhoused Angelenos into permanent housing, stronger oversight and reporting requirements, improved accountability measures, and tools to accelerate affordable housing production and preservation: Creating a time-limited dedicated pathway using ULA funds to move unhoused Angelenos into permanent housing; Expanding reporting requirements of the ULA Citizens Oversight Committee to ensure the City Council receives regular recommendations and clearer oversight on program performance, implementation, and fund delivery; Exploring the feasibility of issuing revenue bonds backed by future ULA revenue to further the purpose and mission of Measure ULA by accelerating affordable housing production and preservation; Establishing a temporary, targeted transfer-tax exemption for qualified affordable housing developments to spur production and ensure more affordable housing gets built; and Directing a long-term evaluation of ULA’s economic, housing, and programmatic impacts. Following weeks of testimony, data review, and public input, Jurado also stated that she does not believe the City should move forward with a ballot measure at this time. The committee’s review found it remains too early to fully evaluate Measure ULA’s long-term impacts and that many implementation challenges can be addressed through targeted reforms and technical improvements without weakening the measure or risking critical funding for affordable housing and homelessness prevention programs. Jurado also reiterated support for advancing technical amendments identified by the Los Angeles Housing Department to remove administrative and financing barriers that can delay affordable housing projects. Because those changes fall within the City’s existing authority under Measure ULA and do not require voter approval, Jurado emphasized the importance of moving quickly to improve efficiency,
Los Angeles is a very, very big city, and the wildfires had a big impact, that is for sure. But people do recognize that there are other issues. And let me just tell you, in terms of the Palisades, we have issued over 2,600 permits for 1,100 properties. We have 400 homes that are actively under construction now. And people are beginning to move back. If you compare that to other wildfires that have happened in the State of California, we are moving along quite quickly
ALIGNING LOCAL POLICIES TO LOWER COSTS FOR STATE-FUNDED HOUSING PROGRAMS To better leverage state dollars and promote the production of affordable housing, the May Revision proposes statutory language to advance targeted policies that align local actions with efforts to reduce development costs. The proposal encourages local governments to provide development fee waivers by recognizing those waivers as a form of local contribution in state affordable housing programs. In addition, as a condition of receiving state funding, the proposal prohibits local governments—when serving as a lead- or co-applicant—from imposing development impact fees on projects receiving state funding. This proposal does not require local jurisdictions to change their underlying fee structures and establishes clear expectations for the use of state funds. The proposal helps direct state investments toward building affordable housing rather than offsetting locally imposed costs, while reducing overall development costs for state-funded affordable housing.
Lowering Affordable Housing Costs The Governor’s revised budget proposes new reforms to stop state affordable housing dollars from being wasted on locally imposed development fees that drive up construction costs and reduce the number of homes California can build. The proposal would prohibit local governments from charging impact fees on affordable housing projects when they are directly applying for or co-applying for state funding, while incentivizing broader local fee waivers through competitive housing programs. Combined with the Governor’s “One Stop Shop” housing finance reforms, the proposal is expected to reduce affordable housing development costs by tens of thousands of dollars per unit and generate hundreds of millions in annual savings that can be reinvested into building more housing.
Graphic describing event
Unlike others in the race, Mahan is not calling for an explicit housing production target. “Those promises are empty promises, and we’ve seen that over and over again,” Mahan said in an interview with POLITICO. “Every time I hear a politician throw out some giant number of homes they’re going to build, my eyes roll as do the eyes of every voter in the state of California.”
Porter’s goal to bring down multifamily construction costs by 20 percent comes from a 2025 RAND study that found the pace of building in California lags other states and contributes to high price tags. Ward, the report’s lead author, said Porter’s idea to speed up construction would likely result in the savings she’s projecting. “That’s a pretty conservative estimate,” he said. “Those costs are really quite quantifiable.”
According to Becerra’s campaign, the 40,000 number comes from a report tallying up all the low-income housing developments that have applied for or received state funding. To fully finance the projects, the state would need to come up with $4.1 billion in grants, loans and tax credits, the report found. Advancing that amount of funding immediately would mark a significant departure from the Newsom administration, which is not planning to allocate new low-income housing dollars in programs referenced in the report because of concerns over balancing the state budget. Becerra recommitted to the pledge in response to questions from POLITICO.
But the modular industry, which now makes up less than 5 percent of residential construction nationwide, has not proven it can deliver cost reductions close to those numbers. A March study from UC Berkeley’s Terner Center for Housing Innovation, which Steyer cites in his housing plan, says that off-site construction has achieved savings of “up to 20 percent.” In one instance, a modular affordable housing development in San Francisco saw 25 percent cost savings, but that project benefited from streamlined permitting and financing that contributed to the lower price tag as well, said Ben Metcalf, the Terner Center’s director and former head of the California Department of Housing and Community Development. “To basically squint and say you can achieve that level of savings across every home built by modular, there are some leaps of faith that have to happen,” Metcalf said.
Even with what he called a “World War II-style mobilization,” housing economist Jason Ward was doubtful it could be done. For one, back in the ‘80s, developers were still replacing orchards and pastures with suburban subdivisions en masse. “Where are you gonna build a million homes?” said Ward, who leads the RAND Housing Center and studies housing production in California. “You’re not just going to do that through just selective infill building. It’s going to be exurban sprawl.” That’s not what Steyer wants. A billionaire climate investor, Steyer has called urban sprawl “environmentally disastrous” in response to surveys from housing groups. (His campaign did not answer a question from POLITICO on the issue.)
As part of POLITICO’s survey, Steyer, Becerra, Porter and Mahan were asked to choose between four options for what they believed was the primary driver of California’s affordability problems: a housing shortage for people of all incomes, Wall Street speculation and investment in the market, a lack of tenant protections or something else. Three said housing shortage, and the fourth, Steyer, said it was barriers to construction and “Wall Street and corporate developers ripping off working people and families.” Additionally, POLITICO asked if Newsom and the Legislature’s actions to reduce the authority of local governments over housing decisions were too little, too much or just right. All four candidates agreed the moves had been appropriate.
The candidates would be wise to heed the cautionary tale offered by Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has felt the sting of overpromising and underdelivering. In his 2018 campaign, Newsom vowed to build 3.5 million new homes in seven years. Despite signing hundreds of new housing laws and dedicating tens of billions of dollars toward low-income housing, the governor will finish his time in office likely meeting just a quarter of his goal. Even groups who push politicians to build as many homes as possible now say it’s inadvisable to promise a specific housing production goal. “The distance between the governor’s office and the carpenter might as well be to the moon,” said Matthew Lewis, a spokesperson for California YIMBY, a housing advocacy organization that has not endorsed in the gubernatorial race.
In 2024, DSA-LA membership approved a censure for Raman’s acceptance of an endorsement from a pro-Israel Democratic club during her hard-fought reelection campaign. However, she was also key to bringing the demand for a permanent ceasefire to City Hall, an important victory that was achieved through months of organizing by DSA-LA members and coalition partners. Ultimately, Raman touts her political independence as an asset, and, despite her late entry into the race, has out-fundraised Bass in the first three months of 2026, and she is currently the only candidate other than Bass and Pratt polling in double digits. While DSA Los Angeles has not endorsed a candidate in this primary election, membership interest in the race remains high, between the excitement of Zohran Mamdani’s win and the strong possibility of challenging Karen Bass from the left in 2026. Responding to a membership petition, the chapter’s Electoral Committee ran an advisory strawpoll of membership, the results of which are as follows: Total submissions: 733 Nithya Raman: 365 (49.8%) Rae Huang: 306 (41.7%) Karen Bass: 10 (1.4%) Adam Miller: 0 (0%) Unsure/No Preference: 52 (7.1%) These results show clearly that while there are diverging opinions on who should be the next mayor of LA, members are largely united in their desire to see a democratic socialist Mayor elected to City Hall this November. With a plurality in support of Nithya Raman, substantial support for Huang, and a significant minority without preference, this was a seriously challenging race to evaluate, and we debated it at length. 2026 will be a big midterm year, and as socialists we must decide how to vote tactically for Mayor in the jungle primary, given Pratt’s candidacy
After accounting for insurance payments received or expected, homeowners estimate they would need about $660,000, on average, to rebuild their homes. The median is $500,000. Those who experienced total loss would need about $850,000 on average. Of total-loss survivors in Altadena, the average deficit is about $550,000; in Pacific Palisades, $1.19m, and in Malibu, $1.73m.
Photo of woman in bathroom who has a rare marijuana-based disease
Graphic showing rebuilding in LA behind Santa Rosa and Paradise post-fire.
Graphic showing rebuilding in LA behind Santa Rosa and Paradise post-fire.
PUNCHING STEYER — Tom Steyer is promising to build 1 million homes if elected governor. Yet the state’s major homebuilders are fighting him. “All we know is that Steyer made it explicitly clear that his solution to California is to regulate and tax it to death,” Dan Dunmoyer, president and CEO of the California Building Industry Association, told Playbook. “And so we just can’t live with Steyer.” Dunmoyer said his members don’t like the specifics of Steyer’s housing plan. While the billionaire climate activist is proposing to cut fees and transfer taxes, which the builders like, he says he’ll replace revenue with a major property tax hike on commercial property, which the builders don’t. Dunmoyer also panned Steyer’s reliance on modular construction to meet his housing goals as an unproven technology.
PADILLA: I appreciate your attention and support for the improvements in and around Tijuana River, number one. On another positive note, want to thank you for having worked with local officials, city and county folks after the fires in the Los Angeles area last January — both the Palisades Fire and the Eaton Fire, more specifically or the largest footprint. So the response and the aid in the immediate aftermath was helpful, was good, was necessary. But as you know, there is still disaster aid pending as the communities are trying to rebuild. It has been more than a year, and so I’m wondering if, on behalf of the Administration, you know when we might expect that supplemental request for consideration by Congress? ZELDIN: Well, I know, Senator, that there was a meeting that I’ve heard nothing but positive feedback from, from both the White House as well as Mayor Bass, County Supervisor Barger. That meeting last week, I would imagine, was felt universally as a good conversation to talk about insurance, to talk about banking, and to talk about potential federal aid. Some of this is a request with FEMA that might not require a new act of Congress. Part of this might be CDBG-DR funding that will require it. I believe that the OMB Director was in that meeting as well. And I also am under the understanding that there's been follow-up conversations as well. PADILLA: I hate to cut you off. I do want to get to other issues, but yes or no, do you have a timetable? A couple of weeks? A month? ZELDIN: I don't have a timetable. I’ve been focused on the EPA budget, but I'm happy to continue to help however possible on any front related to the LA rebuild.
Bass, Trump and Barger in the Oval Office today
The group "NIMBY Imperial" opposes data centers in Imperial County
Graphic showing faster rebuilding in Santa Rosa and Paradise than Altadena and Pacific Palisades
Waffle chart showing half of destroyed properties don't have an application to rebuild after the 2025 LA wildfires
Description of strict rules for people living in Inside Safe
Measure ULA committee press release
Just as the city provides certainty for developers who know what zoning rules allow when they plan projects and for tenants in rent-stabilized apartments, the same should be true for homeowners, said Maria Pavlou Kalban, vice president of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association. “I think [the principle] also applies to homeowners that buy into a neighborhood and assume that's what they bought into,” Pavlou Kalban said. “Now, all of a sudden, that's changed,” she said, referring to the fallout from SB 79.
Moses Kagan tweet saying Nithya Raman was trying to "destroy" LA from 2023
Rude Dude T-shirt
"Rude Dude" riding an LA Metro escalator
Photo of historic parking lot
Phoenix on roof of building
Screenshot of LA permitting site showing certificate of occupancy issued for wildfire rebuild on 12-29-25
COUNT ‘EM UP: In the interview with Klein, the governor also repeated his claim that his oft-cited 2018 campaign promise of building 3.5 million new homes in the first seven years of his gubernatorial tenure was only an “aspirational goal.” But Newsom was firm in his pledge on the trail, telling the Los Angeles Times early that year that building 3.5 million homes was “not just what I want to do — it’s what we must do to address California’s housing crisis, which worsens every day.” “When I embraced the goal of 3.5 million new units by 2025, I knew it was unprecedented and audacious,” Newsom said in February 2018. “But it’s what must be done.” The state has permitted 665,000 new homes from 2019 through 2024, less than 20 percent of his goal, per U.S. Census data. — Liam Dillon
Q&A with Ezra Klein and Gavin Newsom. Transcribed California's RHNA as "arena" Why is it so hard? Because you’ve wanted to do this. You set a 3.5 million housing production goal. That was the aspirational goal. And then the legal goal, 2.5 million by 2030, became what we call the arena goals —
“Imagine you literally just lost your house, at least partly due to government incompetence,” Allen said. “If you already were inclined to be someone to not trust the system, you’re just not in any mindset to embrace a proposal from the county blue-ribbon commission and the state senator to create a government authority that’s going to centralize power.” No other broad-based funding or organizational effort has emerged since. Allen said he’s willing to introduce new legislation next year so long as the proposal comes from resident groups.
Book The Land Trap
Screenshot of article saying Coronado agrees to support affordable housing after state pressure.
Graphic showing increasing permit applications weekly in Pacific Palisades
A key driver of the increases is labor and material prices, which have soared because of inflation, supply-chain problems and worker shortages during the COVID-19 pandemic. But a Times investigation published in 2020 found numerous factors within the control of state and local governments also to blame for the high cost of building affordable housing in California. A man stands in a low-income housing complex being rehabbed in San Francisco. Julio Lara of Mission Housing Development stands in a low-income housing complex being rehabbed on Great Highway in San Francisco. (Paul Kuroda / For The Times) In comparison with private sector development, low-income housing is often saddled with more stringent environmental and labor standards. Affordable housing projects also frequently face high parking requirements, lengthy local approval processes and a byzantine bureaucracy to secure financing.
The structure has been visible from the street for weeks. Flores had attached a sign to the front with a message calling for a citywide rent strike. The tree house is elaborate. Flores used galvanized steel braces to attach a series of ladders to the ash tree’s trunk. Where the trunk narrowed higher in the tree, Flores bolted spikes into the bark to make the final few steps into the structure. Inside the tree house and hanging on nearby branches were blankets, warm clothing, food, water and his medication. To keep things clean, there’s a wooden broom he can sweep out leaves and other detritus. Flores expected to charge his phone via an extension cord connected to electricity in the garage. He bolted a chair to the bottom of the tree house and has a safety belt to catch him should he fall.
Wicks said her bill will not require developers to reserve part of their projects for low-income housing to receive a CEQA exemption; cities can mandate that on their own, she said. Wicks indicated, however, that labor standards could be part of a final deal, saying she’s “had some conversations in that regard.”
Graphic showing higher rent increases in burn areas
Vince McMahon meme. Municipal permitting, after major wildfires, with artificial intelligence, quoting Mandy Moore
Image of a certificate of occupancy
Judge Armen Tamzarian, of Los Angeles County, has been nominated to serve as an Associate Justice of the Second District Court of Appeal, Division Four. He has served as a Judge in the Los Angeles County Superior Court since 2013. Judge Tamzarian was a lead appellate court attorney at the Second District Court of Appeal, Division Three from 2008 to 2013. He was an associate and later a partner at Case, Knowlson, Jordan & Wright LLP from 1997 to 2008. He was a research attorney at the Los Angeles Superior Court from 1996 to 1997. Judge Tamzarian received a Juris Doctor degree from Southwestern Law School. Pending her confirmation, he will fill the vacancy created by the elevation of Justice Helen Zukin to Presiding Justice. This position requires confirmation by the Commission on Judicial Appointments, which consists of Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero, Attorney General Rob Bonta, and Senior Presiding Justice Arthur Gilbert. Judge Tamzarian is a Democrat.
“As reported, interim CEO Ryan Johnson informed me that he will not seek the permanent CEO role. We want to thank Mr. Johnson for his contributions during the cost critical launch phase, and respect his decision. Our commitment is to find a permanent CEO of the highest caliber. The board of directors will conduct a rigorous, detailed, transparent search process. We understand how critical the agency's mission is at a time when we see funding cuts at the state and federal levels of government, the public deserves an agency that reflects the values of honesty, service and results.”
Deleted bluesky post on the governor not appearing at a federal court hearing on homelessness
Quote by Scott turner on govt restrictions on housing
Screenshot of post on X showing permit received by Palisades homeowner
Alligators are overbuilt and dangerous ADU projects that are disrupting our neighborhoods and pitting neighbor against neighbor. This is not a NIMBY vs YIMBY event or debate. It is a LIMBY (Look In My Back Yard) and decide for yourself, event. *Please note: Not all ADU projects are Alligators. Many have, and are, being built responsibly where owners, builders, and LLCs have taken care to remain as conforming to their neighborhoods as humanly possible. Those type of units are not disrupting our neighborhoods, blocking views, or lack to provide ample parking for their tenants. Neither I, nor anyone else will be speech-making at the event, This is not an opportunity for either side of the ADU debate to push an agenda. This is a “meet and greet” opportunity for everyone to view the project and make up their own minds. THIS IS A FREE EVENT
Graphic showing 80% support for stronger building codes; 70% support for restricting growth in high-risk fire areas.
Coffee shop with There Is No Place For Us book
Billionaire developer Rick Caruso, who lost the 2022 mayoral election to Bass and started a nonprofit foundation for wildfire recovery, has said that while he’s broadly supported affordable housing, the push to expand it in the Palisades is coming from “external interests” and would be detrimental to reconstruction efforts. “Now is not the time for outside groups with no ties to the area to slow down the ability of people to rebuild their homes by trying to impose their agenda,” Caruso said. A board member of Caruso’s wildfire foundation, Steadfast LA, went further. Joe Lonsdale, co-founder of data-mining company Palantir, has mocked the prospect of bringing affordable housing to the Palisades on social media platform X, posting a screenshot of a headline suggesting that the city may mandate it. “Sorry guys, no rebuilding your fancy houses that burned down by the ocean in LA until there’s a new crack den installed right in the middle of the neighborhood,” Lonsdale wrote.
Introduction My father didn’t pay for parking, my mother, my brother, nobody. It's like going to a prostitute. Why should I pay when, if I apply myself, maybe I can get it for free. George Costanza
George Hauptman remains tied in knots by his situation. Hauptman and his wife have lived in Malibu since the mid-1970s when they purchased land and built a house in the hills overlooking Broad Beach. The Woolsey Fire destroyed it. They pursued a disaster relief waiver and have now fully rebuilt their home down to bolting in the numbers in their address above the exterior entryway. Yet the city has not issued a certificate of occupancy for the Hauptmans to move in. New fire codes required them to provide more water storage at this house than the previous one. So they bought a bigger water tank, and put it where it best fit. But the city told him the spot straddled the property line with his neighbor. After Hauptman hired a surveyor to prove the tank was on his land, the city said its location still violated setback restrictions.