CA Common Ground

A social housing revolving loan fund could break through these barriers, get shovels in the ground and, get additional affordable housing all for little cost to the public. Private financial institutions alone in this environment can’t get get us the building boom we need.

This survey is a great opportunity to advocate for a vision of social housing for all that shares land values across the community to lower rents for everyone. California needs publicly-owned, fiscally sustainable housing at scale for all income levels. Respond by August 8th!

Please take this @ternerhousing.bsky.social study on what social housing means to you and should mean to California berkeley.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

a graph of US tariffs and DHS excise taxes paid, monthly annualized, which rises from $100B to $300B

June treasury data came in today, and Americans paid a record $27B in tariffs & related DHS excise taxes this month—for an annualized pace of more than $300B/year

The graph of intense pain & suffering keeps getting worse

Yes, Prop. 13 Is Racist | Essay The Infamous Tax Policy Disproportionately Benefits Older, Wealthier, Whiter Californians—But We Could Change That.

Happy Juneteenth! Prop 13 perpetuates racial inequity by giving tax breaks to older, wealther, whiter homeowners. To provide justice for Black Californians, we need to reform Prop 13. www.zocalopublicsquare.org/yes-prop-13-...

How Land Use Reform Could Help Solve the Los Angeles Budget Crisis Our high-level analysis shows how restrictive, exclusionary zoning has accentuated the City’s financial crisis, and how targeting upzoning could help balance budgets. Senate Bill 79 would create capac...

Could land use reform solve LA’s budget crisis? Our bill SB-79 with @scottweiner.bsky.social would increase housing near transit, increasing the City’s largest revenue source: property taxes. Read our brand-new research here: data.streetsforall.org/blog/sb79_zo...

California is working on making transit value capture easier through SB 79, which would allow transit agencies to build housing on their land, and override local zoning to do so.

Two Problems, One Solution — SEPTA Why fund SEPTA? Public transit access provides higher property values and more incentive to build much-needed housing

Investments in transit increase land values. Without intervention, this public investment is captured by private landowners, but if we build housing on public land near transit, that value can be redistributed to transit riders through better funding. thephiladelphiacitizen.org/septa-proper...

Two Problems, One Solution — SEPTA Why fund SEPTA? Public transit access provides higher property values and more incentive to build much-needed housing

A long term solution to the US transit funding crisis probably lies in capturing the value that transit creates: the increase in local land value around frequent service. That's the key to delivering both transit and dense housing nearby.

Great @jongeeting.bsky.social piece, relevant nationwide.

Free land, free trade, free people!

When America Tried to Deport Its Radicals A hundred years ago, the Palmer Raids imperilled thousands of immigrants. Then a wily official got in the way.

One hundred years ago, the US government attempted mass deportations of immigrants for their political speech and ethnicity. Louis Post, the leader of the Georgist movement, stopped them. Today, we Georgists must once again stand up for immigrants. www.newyorker.com/magazine/201...

Yes!

Very encouraging to see transit value capture gaining widespread interest. By developing public land while retaining public ownership, we recapture land value uplift created by public investments, and can reinvest it for public good, not private profit.

Thank you for promoting our whitepaper!

In the Tokyo area, rail operators derive 30-50% of revenue from ground rents of developments near their stations. Common Ground California proposes California could adopt similar approaches to create more sustainable transit funding models.
buff.ly/rVa4B9U

Common Ground California report examines Hong Kong's transit model, which operates without government subsidies. Instead, the system funds itself through rental income from properties near stations and by selling development rights on transit-owned land.
buff.ly/rVa4B9U

Happy Tax Day! Let's hear it for the Land Value Tax, the tax that decreases inequality, increases housing affordability, and promotes sustainable economic growth and productive investment!

Trump's tariff pause does little to lower overall tariff rates, Yale researchers say U.S. President Donald Trump's rollback of some of the steep tariffs he has imposed has done little to lower the average import duty rate from the elevated levels to which his wave of levies had driven them, researchers from Yale University said on Thursday.

The "pause" still leaves the US with the highest tariff rate since the Great Depression. Protectionism and land speculation cause recessions, to the detriment of working people. www.reuters.com/markets/trum...

The Republican tariffs are an existential threat to places like Oakland Chinatown and other immigrant neighborhoods, many of which were already struggling. A lot of the product is imported and a lot of the customers are low income.

State & local policy will need to move quickly to save them.

Trump's latest round of tariffs will raise the average American's taxes by $4,700 - while he cuts taxes for billionaires. Poor people and immigrants who rely on imported groceries will be hit hardest. Import taxes are not progressive and should be condemned by all supporters of economic justice.

Trade has ever been the extinguisher of war, the eradicator of prejudice, the diffuser of knowledge... men in one place have been enabled not only to obtain the products, but to profit by the observations, discoveries and inventions of men in other places. -HG, Protection or Free Trade

A picture of Henry George with a quote that says “protectionism teaches us to do to ourselves in time of peace what enemies seek to do to us in time of war”

Once again: reject McKinley, embrace George

Why do Georgists oppose tariffs? – RSF Website

Replacing revenue-raising tariffs with the income tax, which still taxes rents, was one of Georgists' greatest accomplishments. Trump wants to take us back to the unfair 19th century economy. schalkenbach.org/why-do-georg...

It's the day for this quote!

The minimum tariff imposed by Trump is higher than the sales tax in most California cities- taxes that are already high thanks to unfair tax breaks for landowners. This tariff regime will massively increase prices for Californians who already struggle to afford housing. Tax land, not labor.

Mood

Understanding the significance of parking requirements to everything is good Georgist thinking, pricing street parking adequately is literal georgism

One of the best thinkers on rent since Henry George.

Rest in Peace, Professor Shoup. Donald Shoup's work on pricing parking pioneered the fusion of Georgist ideas and practical urbanist reforms. He will be missed. We strive to uphold his legacy by continuing to advocate for proper public capture of urban rents.

These tariffs are a tax on the American people. Produce you buy at the grocery store, new cars, and computers will be 25% more expensive if this goes through.