‘Gimme Shelter’: A conversation with Gov. Newsom’s housing advisor

During his 2018 campaign for governor, Gavin Newsom unveiled a bold agenda to tackle the state’s housing affordability crisis, pledging to support the building of 3.5 million new homes by 2025. And this February, Newsom dedicated the entirety of his annual State of the State speech to California’s homelessness problems.

Have Newsom’s pledges made a difference? On this episode of “Gimme Shelter: The California Housing Crisis Podcast,” we speak with Jason Elliott, the governor’s top advisor on housing about Newsom’s mixed record so far and what’s coming next. Newsom had not made much progress on his housing promises even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Elliott also discusses how the governor is closing in on likely the biggest housing achievement of his tenure: the quick conversion of more than 6,000 hotel and motel rooms across the state into permanent housing for homeless residents.

“Gimme Shelter,”a biweekly podcast that looks at why it’s so expensive to live in California and what the state can do about it, features Liam Dillon, who covers housing affordability issues for the Los Angeles Times, and Matt Levin, data and housing reporter for CalMatters.

You can subscribe to “Gimme Shelter” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Soundcloud, Google Podcasts and Overcast.