According to a recent report, the San José‑Sunnyvale‑Santa Clara metro area has experienced the steepest drop in home building permits nationwide — a 68% decline from 2020 to 2025. Get the scoop from San José Spotlight.
Bay Area homeowners are doing their part to alleviate the housing crisis by investing in accessory dwelling units, aka “granny” flats. A new bill making its way through Washington could help them get federally-backed financing. Palo Alto Weekly has the story.
It was another tale of two markets during November in San Francisco. Home sales and median prices were up year-over-year, and properties spent less time on the market. On the flip side, condo sales and prices experienced a dip from 2022, and properties took longer to sell.
The Census Bureau recently released data from their American Community Survey (ACS) for 2022, and some interesting numbers pop out in Santa Clara County. For example, 62% of households are single family homes, and 60% of housing units were constructed prior to 1980.
An astounding 41% of the county’s residents are foreign born, and 55% speak a language other than English at home, making this one of the most diverse communities in the country — and the world.
There’s only so much you can do to protect your home from the impacts of climate change and natural disasters. If we’re not prepared as a community, we’re all vulnerable.
Many of the changes we need to make are actually pretty simple. We just need to focus our efforts on things like replacing old water, sewer, and electrical infrastructure, expanding the ranks in our fire departments, and upgrading their firefighting technology. How can you make this happen? Start by talking to your local city councilperson or the appropriate public agency.
Whenever government officials pass the buck on the climate crisis, their objection seems to come down to money. As in, they don’t have any. Well, here’s the thing: The upfront costs of adapting to a new climate reality are naturally high. But the long-term payoff on the investment would be huge, particularly for our children — and our grandchildren. I, for one, think it makes a lot of cents!
