Liza Veale

Farmworkers employed by one of the biggest fruit growers in the country have officially ousted the United Farm Workers, the union founded by Cesar Chavez. Why would so many workers vote against unionizing, especially in a place where the farmworker movement has such a strong legacy? Was the election fair?

The story of the United Farm Workers’ dwindling ranks is a lot bigger than the latest election at Gerawan Farming, where it was decertified. The union has been shrinking for decades. They’re not alone. Most unions have been shrinking since the ‘80s. But the details of the UFW’s rise and fall are not well known.

The Golden State Warriors are rolling, now. Last night they crushed the Portland Trailblazers in the first game of the Western Conference Finals. But, win or lose, the team is leaving for San Francisco next year. In the latest from Bounce, we're looking at how the Golden State Warriors organization is teaming up with local businesses like Oakland's Bakesale Betty to bring some East Bay flavor to the City.

San Francisco approved a plan to build its largest homeless Navigation Center yet, against vehement opposition from some residents.

The rideshare company Lyft recently launched its public offering and Uber is expected to do the same this month. Some drivers on those platforms are taking this opportunity to tell the companies and investors that they’re getting organized and want to see improvements in their working conditions. 

Oakland public school teachers ended their strike, last week, after winning some but not all of their demands. It was the latest in a year full of labor activism. To find out what it takes to strike and win, we break down one of the most successful fights of last year: the Marriott strike.

Oakland teachers won a big pay increase. But over 40% of union members voted not to take the deal, saying it didn’t meet enough of their demands. What’s next for Oakland’s school district, and for the labor movement?

After a year and a half of negotiations, a diverse group of Bay Area officials, housing advocates, and other stakeholders have signed off on what they’re calling a “grand bargain” on housing.

There are a lot of things to blame for the housing affordability crisis in the Bay Area — we talk about a shortage of housing, we talk about predatory landlords and property flippers, we talk about why we have a for-profit housing system at all.

The campaign to kill Proposition 10 has ramped up. Landlords, property investors and others in the real estate industry have raised almost $70 million to keep the Costa Hawkins Rental Housing Act from being repealed, which would allow cities to expand rent control laws.

San Francisco may permanently double the money it spends on housing and services for homeless people, if voters pass Prop C on November 6. The measure would raise new funds by taxing the top 300 or so highest-grossing businesses in the city.

In a special presentation from KALW News, it’s a story about radical reforms in foster care, from the new podcast 70 Million.

By age 17, over half of young people in foster care have already been convicted of a crime or spent a night in jail. After they age out, a quarter will go to jail or get in trouble with the law within the first two years. California is determined to keep foster youth out of jail.

This proposition would allow cities to expand their rent control ordinances by repealing the 1995 law known as Costa Hawkins.

Many advocates say the Bay Area needs to build a lot more housing to solve its affordability crisis. Of course, that’s easier said than done, and the high cost of labor is often cited as one of the obstacles. But construction trades workers also need to live in this expensive area and they say wages, though higher than elsewhere, still barely cut it.

Proposition 5 would amend the controversial 1978 law known as Proposition 13, which freezes property tax rates as homes appreciate over time.

The fall semester has just begun at colleges and universities across the Bay Area, which means hundreds of thousands of undergrads and grad students are squeezing themselves into the region’s tight housing market right now. 75% of University of California, Berkeley undergrads live off campus — at San Francisco State University it’s much more than that. The waitlists for dorms are thousands of students long. So most of them are looking for rental housing like everyone else. Somehow, some way.

Proposition 1 is the Veterans and Affordable Housing Bond Act. If passed, it would authorize the sale of $4 billion in bonds to finance a bunch of existing low-income housing programs, build new, state-owned housing and match local housing trust funds dollar-for-dollar as they pilot new programs. One-quarter of this $4 billion would help veterans purchase homes, mobile homes and farms.

Rents have increased 40 percent across the Bay Area in the last three years. Six of the country's 11 most expensive rental markets are in California.

Even in the Bay Area, there are some properties that are so dilapidated they can’t sell. Many have been languishing since the foreclosure crisis a decade ago. But instead of letting them just take up space, the city of Richmond is flipping the homes that investors won’t touch.

San Jose’s Measure B, and the counter-amendment Measure C, would affect housing development and zoning.

Measure B would rezone the Evergreen Hills area in San Jose to allow for large housing development on what is now undeveloped hillside.

The zoning change wouldn’t just apply to this site, but many sites like it that are currently zoned non-residential.

SUPPORTERS:

Emeryville’s Measure C is a $50 million bond to fund affordable housing. It was put on the ballot by the Emeryville City Council by a unanimous vote.

It would tackle housing affordability in a number of ways: By building permanent supportive housing for people experiencing homelessness, buying existing housing and converting it to affordable housing, and providing first-time home loans to low and middle income households.

THE MONEY

It’s clear that owning a home is becoming unaffordable for many Californians — but there’s no single simple explanation for what’s driving up prices.

When winter comes, Bay Area cities open temporary shelters to keep unhoused residents warm and dry. But, as winter comes to an end, these shelters close down. In Berkeley, Oakland and San Francisco about 500 homeless people will be back on the streets.

If you’ve heard of Proposition 13, you probably know that it cut property taxes back in 1978, which reduced funding for public schools and other services. It also has a lot to do with the state’s shortage of housing and, many argue, the fact that rents are so darn high.

Yesterday, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved a resolution to formally oppose a state bill which is being called the most controversial housing bill in decades. The Transit-Rich Housing Bonus, if passed, would force cities and counties to allow for dense and tall housing near public transit—no matter what local laws say. Here’s why San Francisco leaders are putting up such a fight against it. 

An East Oakland warehouse is ground zero of a unfortunate standoff between art and marijuana. Over 30 artists are facing possible eviction, after a cannabis investment fund bought their building—one of Oakland’s oldest live/work artist housing.

Today, San Francisco began construction on a housing development in Mission Bay, a complex that will house 62 homeless veterans and 59 low-income families.

The weather did not stop housing leaders from gathering under a muddy tent to celebrate.

“Thanks for coming out in the rain,” said Michael Blecker of Swords to Plowshares, the veterans' services organization. “And, of course the folks who will be living here will be out of the rain.”

One of our listeners, Consuelo Faust, recently asked us a question through our Hey Area project: “Is it fact or urban legend that other cities or even States send their homeless people to San Francisco?”

As the mayor that presided over a wave of gentrification and displacement, Ed Lee took a lot of heat from the public. But, he also easily won reelection.

Many San Franciscans have the impression that homelessness has been growing in recent years. In 2016, residents called 311 to complain about encampments five times more than in the previous year.

What’s confusing is — the population of homeless people in San Francisco has actually stayed relatively flat.