Thursday, May 2, 2024

Gimme Shelter: Can California Build Millions of New Homes Amid Drought?

On this episode of “Gimme Shelter: The California Housing Crisis Podcast,” CalMatters’ Manuela Tobias and the Los Angeles Times’ Liam Dillon sit down with Ellen Hanak, director of the Public Policy Institute of California’s Water Policy Center, to discuss the intersection between housing growth and drought.


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As state officials and experts continue to push for more housing to address the state’s worsening affordability crisis, people often bring up another issue gripping California: drought.

How is it that California Gov. Gavin Newsom can call for the creation of millions of new housing units while demanding that people cut back on long showers and watering their lawns?

In fact, new research shows there’s plenty of water to accommodate the growing population as long as the decades-long trend of diminishing water use per capita continues. To explain the disconnect, CalMatters’ Manuela Tobias and the Los Angeles Times’ Liam Dillon sit down with Ellen Hanak, director of the Public Policy Institute of California’s Water Policy Center.



Podcast editing by Victor Figueroa. https://www.linkedin.com/in/vicfig

Written By Manuela Tobias


Manuela is the housing reporter for CalMatters. Her stories focus on the political dynamics and economic and racial inequities that have contributed to the housing crisis in California and its potential… 



Managing Editor
Managing Editor
Originally from upstate New York, Dani Schwartz has lived in Coronado since 1996. She is happy to call Coronado home and to have raised her children here. In her free time she enjoys reading, exercising, trying new restaurants, and just walking her dog around the "island." Have news to share? Send tips or story ideas to: [email protected]

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