Blog Post Archive - Public Policy Institute of California

It is no secret that California has a housing problem. Home values are more than twice the national median ($776k vs $370k), rents run about 40% higher, homeownership is the second lowest in the nation, and housing has become a dominant reason peo...

California’s 2026-27 budget cleared the legislature earlier this week—but key negotiations with the governor remain unfinished as the state confronts difficult long-term fiscal realities. This year’s budget plan was bolstered by an increase in projected revenue driven by AI-related stock market gains. But future budgets may not be as fortunate: recent increases in Gene...

California’s next governor will face the challenge of delivering a safety net impacted by federal policy . In particular, new federal policy is reducing the scope of CalFresh—the state’s largest nutrition assistance program, which keeps close to a million Calif...

Public school enrollment in California continued to fall this year, with 2025–26 marking the ninth straight year of decline. Declines have spanned most of the state and are projected to continue through the next decade. They are...

Tribal nations inhabit nearly every watershed in California, yet Tribal water rights are often poorly understood. In an event earlier this month, Letitia Grenier, director of the PPIC Water Policy Center, presented new research about the history...