logo
episode-header-image
Sep 2020
24m 8s

Hotel Corona

KQED
About this episode
When the coronavirus began spreading across the United States, health officials advised people to stay home and shelter-in-place, to protect themselves and slow the spread of the virus. But what about the people who have no home, no place to shelter? This question became particularly urgent in California where, on any given night, more than 150,000 people li ... Show More
Up next
Sep 2020
Prefabulous
California has a huge housing shortage. The state says it needs to build nearly 2 million homes in the next five years. But we’re not building anywhere near enough to reach that goal. One big reason: it’s so expensive to build here. The cost of labor, land and materials all keep ... Show More
24m 15s
Oct 2020
Zoning Out
The single-family home is synonymous with the American dream. But that Norman Rockwell-esque image of a single home surrounded by a white picket fence comes with a loaded history. When cities first created neighborhoods where only single-family houses were allowed, it was about m ... Show More
23m 21s
Oct 2020
Housing As Reparations
In America, homeownership has historically, and still is, the main way to build wealth. However racism and decades of discriminatory policies and lending practices have shut Black families out of this American dream. That’s one of the reasons why we still see a huge wealth gap be ... Show More
32m 36s
Recommended Episodes
Feb 2025
California’s insurance crisis
Thousands of homes burned to the ground in the recent wildfires in Los Angeles which will likely become the most expensive natural disaster in US history.Many victims did not have insurance, because they couldn’t afford California’s increasingly expensive policies or because they ... Show More
18m 35s
Jan 2025
After the fires
The fires in Los Angeles are almost out. Residents are starting to trickle back into their burned-out neighborhoods. When they get to their houses, they face a series of almost impossible questions: Do we want to live here amongst all this destruction? And if we do, how do we eve ... Show More
25m 25s
Jan 2024
RV Laws In Butte County Leave Many Fire Victims With Few Options
People are still struggling to find a place to live years after devastating wildfires ripped through Butte County.  In the remote town of Berry Creek, many are living in RVs on the lots where houses once stood. But they face deadlines to rebuild their homes or move. Reporter: Jam ... Show More
10m 27s
Feb 2025
California Wildfires and the Insurance Crisis: What's Next for Palisades, Altadena and the L.A. Area
In January, communities in Los Angeles were devastated by wildfires, permanently displacing thousands and destroying property and lives. Prior to the fires, thousands of L.A. residents in fire-prone areas were dropped from their insurance, leaving them with no protection or safet ... Show More
37m 49s
Feb 2023
One Uprooted Life At A Time, Climate Change Drives An American Migration
Margaret Elysia Garcia tried hard to rebuild her life in Greenville, California after it was devastated by a wildfire in 2021.But the difficulty of life there — power outages, mud slides, razed streets she could barely recognize — eventually it all became too much. She left her h ... Show More
11m 42s
Jan 2022
The Sunday Read: ‘This Isn’t the California I Married’
<p>Elizabeth Weil, the author of today’s Sunday Read, writes that, in her marriage, there was a silent third spouse: California.</p><p>“The state was dramatic and a handful,” Weil writes. “But she was gorgeous, and she brought into our lives, through the natural world, all the tr ... Show More
46m 39s
Nov 2018
Cities Have Turned Into Fire Bait—But We Can Fix Them
The Northern California city of Paradise is gone—the Camp Fire, by far the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in state history, has reduced home after home to ashes. It conjures images of a tsunami of flame tearing through the town, destroying everything in its path. Curious ... Show More
9m 30s