Demand for apartment rentals surges unexpectedly as home sales slump

Apartment absorption, which is the rate at which new units are rented out, is now at the highest level in three years, according to the U.S. Census. Apartment construction took off in 2012 and reached a 20-year high in 2017. It remained elevated this year, despite warnings that demand would slow as more millennials aged [...]

By |2018-12-28T17:04:33-08:00December 28th, 2018|Advocacy|

Letter | Time to Push Dinosaurs into New Age

Measure M was defeated by 62 percent of the voters, but it’s being revived by the new City Council. On hold due to threatened legality, they may yet act based on faulty analysis of high rents. “Generation Priced Out,” by Randy Shaw of the progressive Tenderloin Housing Clinic, investigates high rents. He finds: The statewide [...]

By |2018-12-28T16:26:38-08:00December 28th, 2018|Advocacy|

Housing Affordability Crisis Is Nationwide

Californians are not the only ones confronted with a housing affordability crisis. According to ATTOM Data Solutions, U.S. housing affordability dropped to a 10-year low in the third quarter to its least affordable level since Q3 2008. Nationwide, the Q3 2018 home affordability index of 92 was down from 95 in the previous quarter and [...]

By |2018-12-28T16:19:14-08:00December 28th, 2018|Advocacy|

Las Vegas Apartment Rents Rising, but so Is Vacancy Rate

Las Vegas apartment rents are ending 2018 rising fast, but amid steeper prices and increased construction, vacancies are ticking higher. The average effective rent for a Las Vegas-area apartment this quarter is $1,059, up 8.1 percent from a year earlier, according to preliminary figures released Friday by research firm Reis Inc. The growth rate was [...]

By |2018-12-27T16:30:25-08:00December 27th, 2018|Advocacy|

Housing is a Human Right

More and more people are struggling just to have a roof over their heads. In 99.6 percent of counties in this nation, a full-time minimum wage worker can’t afford to rent a one-bedroom home. People are experiencing rising rents, foreclosures and evictions but many are invisible — they are couch-surfing, doubling up, sleeping in their [...]

By |2018-12-27T10:23:26-08:00December 27th, 2018|Advocacy|

Apartment Construction Fuels Rise in Housing Starts

U.S. developers broke ground on more homes last month, but the increase occurred entirely in apartments. The construction of new single-family houses fell. The Commerce Department said Tuesday that housing starts rose 3.2 percent in November from the previous month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate 1.26 million. Despite the increase, that is down [...]

By |2018-12-19T15:20:39-08:00December 19th, 2018|Advocacy|

Helter Skelter Street: LA’s Specter of Homelessness

LOS ANGELES — Helter Skelter Street is a starkly unforgiving specter lurking amid the thoroughfares of L.A. County predating the human scape, seeking to remand evermore men, women, and children to the hard, virulent streets stripped of shelter, food, and clothing. Helter Skelter Street is a metaphor of the bourgeoning fraternity of the homeless in the [...]

By |2018-12-19T15:28:33-08:00December 19th, 2018|Advocacy|