Housing Reporter

Ethan Varian

Ethan Varian is a Bay Area News Group reporter covering housing for The Mercury News and East Bay Times. He was previously a housing and homelessness reporter at the Santa Rosa Press Democrat in Sonoma County. His stories about housing, business and culture have been published in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times and the Guardian US, among others. He graduated from Colorado College with a BA degree in history and the University of Southern California with an MS degree in journalism.

Dave Jones, the Director of the Climate Risk Initiative at UC Berkeley’s Center for Law, Energy and the Environment in Pacific Grove, Calif., on Friday, May 30, 2025. Jones was also California’s Insurance Commissioner from 2011 to 2019. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group)

California’s former insurance commissioner wants oil and gas companies to pay for the home insurance crisis

July 4, 2025 at 6:56 a.m.

Over the past decade, insurers have dropped hundreds of thousands of homeowners statewide.

An encampment covers a sidewalk near a freeway entrance in downtown San Diego on March 22, 2024 but is a sight familiar to many residents in many communities in the state. Photo by Kristian Carreon for CalMatters.

Did this Bay Area city make it a crime to help homeless people?

February 15, 2025 at 6:36 a.m.

The city of Fremont has been thrust into the national spotlight this week for adopting a strict public camping ban that also makes it a crime to “aid” or “abet” any violation of the...

Firefighters with the Orange County Fire Authority pour water on a smoldering home on Vista Court that was destroyed in the Coastal fire in Laguna Niguel on Thursday, May 12, 2022. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG, courtesy photo.)

California’s plan to stabilize its home insurance market is now law. Will it work?

December 18, 2024 at 6:03 a.m.

California’s plan to stabilize its faltering home insurance market is now law, meaning homeowners in fire-prone areas and beyond may soon have an easier time finding coverage. But consumer advocates worry it will...

San Mateo County made refusing a shelter bed a crime. Is it helping solve homelessness?

September 10, 2024 at 7:30 a.m.

Last week, the state transportation department notified Bocek and fellow campers that authorities planned to clear the encampment. Bocek said she didn’t plan on accepting a shelter bed if officials...

Unhoused resident Dani Bocek, 41, sorts her belongings at a homeless encampment in Redwood City, Calif., on Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)

This Bay Area county made refusing a shelter bed a crime. Is it helping solve homelessness?

September 4, 2024 at 12:46 p.m.

So far, no one has been cited or arrested for turning down shelter.

Gov. Gavin Newsom at news conference for Homekey program which transforms former office space and other buildings into housing in Costa Mesa, Jan. 18, 2024. Standing Behind Newsom from left: Kyle Paine, president of Community Development Partners; Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley; Costa Mesa Mayor John Stephens and Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Cities are getting $43 million from state for homeless housing

August 16, 2024 at 6:07 a.m.

Bay Area cities and counties are getting $43 million in state funding for four planned homeless housing projects totaling 138 units.

California homeowners are suing the FAIR Plan, the state’s last option for those needing fire insurance, accusing it of failing to provide the legally required coverage for smoke damage. The Glass Fire destroyed 308 homes and 343 commercial buildings. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)

California homeowners sue FAIR Plan, insurer of last resort, over smoke damage coverage

July 25, 2024 at 6:30 a.m.

The class action case filed Tuesday is being brought on behalf of more than 350,000 policyholders across the state.

Apartment buildings are seen in San Francisco in 2017. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group Archives)

$10,000 to move into a new apartment? Bill would give California renters a break on high security deposits

June 13, 2023 at 6:12 a.m.

In California, it’s perfectly legal for landlords to ask renters to cough up more than $10,000 before handing over the keys to a new apartment.

Owning a home in the Bay Area now costs twice as much as renting

June 6, 2023 at 6:59 a.m.

Owning a home in the Bay Area now costs more than twice as much as renting one, the largest disparity of any major population center in the country, as homeownership...

Can ‘social housing’ help solve California’s housing crisis?

May 30, 2023 at 2:02 p.m.

A state bill seeks to create publicly owned housing that's affordable for people of a range of income levels.

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