At REDA Self-Sufficiency Starts with Housing

As a student, finding housing is one of my biggest priorities, but I was able to rely on my parents to show credit history and proof of income. For refugees arriving in the US finding housing is one of the first challenges to rebuilding their lives. They must do so often before they learn English and with none of the proof of income, credit, or rental history I was able to use when getting my first apartment. This problem is not unique to refugees or the city of Sacramento but one non-profit, the Refugee Enrichment and Development Association (REDA) is helping clients rebuild their lives.

StateAnna HicksAugust 7, 2023REDA, Housing, refugees, refugee support, affordable housing, Afghanistan, Sacramento, Anna HicksComment

California Is Not as Progressive as We Like to Think We Are: A Housing Perspective

Skyrocketing housing prices, exorbitant monthly rents, and tent cities popping up throughout California cities. We’ve all heard the statistics - California is in a severe housing crisis. In response to this, our leaders have set aggressive housing production goals, with Governor Newsom notably promising to develop a whopping 3.5 million new homes by 2025. Yet we are continually disappointed. In the four years since Newsom took office, less than half a million homes have been built within the state.

StateCynthia WeberJuly 3, 2023Cynthia Weber, Housing, California, newsom, Gavin Newsom, NIMBYismComment

The Practicality of Big Government in California and Beyond

On Sept. 28th, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law AB 2011, greenlighting the conversion of derelict commercial spaces into housing, regardless of local government objections. The bill is the latest in a series of moves meant to tackle California’s ballooning cost of housing, limiting the power of cities and counties to micromanage or block new construction. That same day, Newsom gave his signature to AB 2097, eliminating parking mandates for developments near mass transit, and AB 2221, which specifies legal ambiguities surrounding what constitutes a ‘granny flat’, ending the ability of localities to deny their erection on arbitrary grounds.