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The governor threw communities into disarray two weeks ago by withholding $1 billion in homelessness funding for plans he saw as unambitious. But local officials said the assignment itself discouraged ambition. Now Newsom is yielding.

Gov. Gavin Newsom campaigned on housing production, an issue important to many Californians. But despite some accomplishments, the housing crisis is worse now than when he took office.

The latest point-in-time count of California鈥檚 homeless population shows that it increased at roughly the same pace as previous years, although it appears to have disproportionately affected Latinos. Experts say homelessness interventions are paying off but 鈥渢he inflow is killing us.鈥�

Now that Gov. Gavin Newsom鈥檚 court system for people with severe mental illness cleared the state Legislature, counties face a series of practical questions critical to turning the fuzzy concept into a reality.

After weeks of negotiation, two major construction unions didn鈥檛 reach a compromise on bills about turning commercially zoned land into housing. Legislators congratulated each other anyway.

Some of the most powerful groups in the state are at an impasse regarding key housing legislation. Politicians will likely have to choose between alienating a powerful union and streamlining affordable housing development.

An emergency housing voucher program offers improvements to the decades-old federal solution to the housing affordability crisis, but landlord reluctance remains a crucial hurdle.

Failure to file an answer within five days can result in an eviction. Tenant advocates and attorneys built an online tool to buy tenants some time.

While lawmakers are still gung-ho about Gov. Gavin Newsom鈥檚 CARE Court approach to the state's crisis of homelessness, county officials are worried they don鈥檛 have the resources to implement the idea.

The last statewide eviction protections for low-income California tenants affected by COVID-19 ended Thursday, but many still haven鈥檛 heard back about their rent relief applications. Some local protections are still in place.

A new bill aimed at increasing affordable housing construction has an important backer: California鈥檚 carpenters鈥� unions. The state鈥檚 formidable Construction and Building Trades Council, which represents most other construction unions, is opposed. The battle comes down to how stringent labor requirements under the new bill would be.

Cities around the state are trying to circumvent California鈥檚 new law allowing duplexes to be built on properties previously zoned as single family. Their methods include everything from removing parking and forbidding vehicle ownership to requiring arbitrary amounts of mature vegetation.