The Brief

For years, Bob Hughes had been eyeing a corner lot just down the street from his San José office, where he runs a building firm.

The single-family property at Lantz and Foxworthy avenues — shrouded by trees and sitting on just under 12,000 square feet in a quiet residential neighborhood near Cambrian Park — seemed ripe for development. So when he got the opportunity to purchase it, Hughes immediately began thinking about how to split the lot.

“The original house here was just covered with foliage all across the front — large trees and plants,” he said. “You couldn’t even see the house.”

Now, nearly three years later, Hughes is a few weeks away from becoming the second developer in the state to successfully take advantage of a new law that allows homeowners to sell ADUs as condos.

The first, on Josefa Street near San José’s downtown by developer AlphaX RE Capital, got its official certification from the city in a public ceremony on Thursday. Standing in front of a white backyard cottage with a sloping roof, Mayor Matt Mahan said the home represented “history in the making.”

“ADUs are affordable by design and growing in popularity across the state. And now, they can offer the most accessible form of homeownership, as well,” he said. “We are offering a proof of concept for California and hope that other cities follow San José’s lead.”

The law, AB 1033 by former San Francisco Assemblymember Phil Ting, went into effect in 2024 and allows cities to opt into the new rules. San José became the first city last year to adopt them. Since then, at least a handful of other cities have followed, including Santa Monica, Santa Cruz, San Francisco and San Diego. Berkeley planning officials expect to put forward an ordinance in September to allow condo sales.

Robert Hughes, a long-time developer from the South Bay, stands outside of a condominium for sale in San José on Aug. 13, 2025.

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The goal, supporters say, is to encourage more affordable ownership opportunities in a state where just 15% of households could reasonably afford to purchase the median-priced single-family home, according to the California Association of Realtors.

Rafael Perez, board chair of the Casita Coalition, which championed the law, lauded California for making significant strides in permitting new ADUs — with over 30,000 permitted last year, representing a quarter of California’s projected housing stock.

But early iterations of the law had prohibited selling them as condos, with some exceptions. Two surveys, from UC Berkeley’s Terner Center for Housing Innovation and the South Bay Cities Council of Government, found that about 65% of ADUs are offered as long-term rentals, either on the private market or to family and friends for free.

“ADUs weren’t moving the needle on homeownership as much as we would like,” Perez said. “ADU condos open up that door of possibility.”

But so far, city officials in Santa Monica and Santa Cruz, which adopted their versions of the law in October and January, respectively, said they had not yet received any applications. In San José, just two developers have filed applications to convert ADUs to condos — though, on Thursday, AlphaX committed to completing dozens more.

The paucity of enthusiasm — either from other cities looking to implement it or other property owners hoping to take advantage of it — isn’t entirely surprising, several observers said.

For owners with mortgages, the conversion not only requires securing lenders’ approval but also potentially devaluing the existing home, since condos are typically valued less, said Martina Davis, a planning division manager for the city of San José.

“If you have a big mortgage, your bank might not be OK with that,” Davis said. “Or you may look at it and say, ‘Wait, hold on, I need to retain the full value of the house.’”

Anecdotally, Davis said most of the interest in converting ADUs to condos in San José has come from developers for whom those obstacles may not apply. Though Hughes said the newness of the law, along with some of its provisions, has presented its own challenges.

The kitchen at 2985 Lantz Ave. in San José on Aug. 13, 2025.

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Unlike traditional condos, the law requires the ADU to receive a certificate of occupancy before undergoing condominium mapping — a process that’s taken Hughes about six months of precious time sitting on two vacant homes. And after San José officials certify the units as condos, they’ll need approval from the county, as well.

“I’ve got a lot of money tied up here,” he said. “I want to hurry this along.”

For AlphaX, the decision to use the law was more of an experiment to test whether it could work. The company had already purchased the lot and had renters living in both the main home and ADU.

“We are not afraid to be the pioneer,” said Jia Li, the company’s chief asset manager. “If you solve this problem, or we explore the options, then there’s all these other opportunities that could come.”

But Jane Lin, chief investment officer for AlphaX, said it’s a model they think has promise. “At the end of the day, it’s just providing more housing. It’s one possible solution to help create more housing.”

Her company on Thursday said it hoped to complete another 85 ADU condos over the next year, which could be built for existing homeowners on lots they already own, or on lots the company purchases. Once it secures the land, Lin said, “ADUs go up fast.”

In Seattle, about 60% of all ADUs were sold as condos in 2024, according to a city dashboard. Nick Welch, a senior planner at Seattle’s Office of Planning and Community Development, said those figures may be even higher this year because the share of ADU condos has been rising, indicating strong demand for more affordable homeownership options.

According to a city report analyzing data from 2023, the median ADU sold at about 60% of the price of the associated main home and about half as much as a new, detached home.

“Plenty of people want to buy homes and are priced out of the market,” Welch said. “ADUs — just by virtue of being smaller and having a smaller lot area — are obviously sold for less than a new 4,000 square-foot single-family home. And so there’s plenty of demand for that type of ownership housing.”

However, Perez sees scenarios where existing homeowners could also benefit from converting their home and backyard cottage into condominiums. The law makes it possible to access their home’s equity, without taking on additional debt, he said. “They can sell off the ADU and with the proceeds, pay off what was left of that mortgage and be mortgage-free, right?”

The main home property associated with the condominium for sale at 2985 Lantz Ave., in San José, on Aug. 13, 2025.

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Or, they can sell to a family member. “For families that are seeing displacement, the ability to create an entry point in the backyard that’s more affordable than the homes they can’t afford is also a way that people are able to stay in the state.”

Hughes said he already has a buyer for the ADU he built in San José. The three-bedroom, two-bath, nearly 1,200 square-foot home will go for just under $1.6 million, as soon as the condominium map is approved.

The primary home, with five bedrooms, three bathrooms and nearly 2,900 square feet, is listed for more than $3 million.

While certainly not cheap, Hughes said, “No place in San José is, though. I mean, realistically, they are not.”

Hughes had the advantage of starting with a relatively big lot, which allowed him to build two units with separate entrances and utilities, making them more akin to single-family homes than condos.

“It’s unique because it’s on the corner, and the lot was big enough that I could build a 1,200 square-foot ADU,” Hughes said, noting that most lots will be smaller and have shared utilities. “It’s going to be down in a lower price range just by the size. So, therefore, it is creating that affordable home for somebody to go in there.”

More typical is the lot on Josefa Street, where AlphaX is recording the city’s first ADU-condominium-conversion map. The main home takes over most of the lot, with the ADU at the rear of the property. The two homes share a long driveway.

Lin said she wasn’t sure whether the company would ultimately sell the units as condos or continue to rent them out.

“It’s just the beginning,” she said. “So that’s why we’re all very happy and very excited to try.”

On Sept. 17, 2017, California Highway Patrol officer Nathaniel Partridge checked in his patrol car almost four hours before his shift ended and drove 35 miles home. That day, and on at least two other occasions, he was paid overtime for the hours he didn’t work.

Partridge wasn’t alone. Dozens of CHP officers at an East Los Angeles patrol division routinely did the same while working traffic enforcement details on highway construction sites. On paper, the practice had been forbidden for five years, but no one objected until a 2019 audit.

“I took the chance to go home and would fall on the consequence if I was called back,” Partridge told CHP investigators, according to court documents.

The result was the smallest patrol division in Southern California running up an overtime tab that was three times that of the region’s largest division, according to the internal audit. That finding led CHP to drop the hammer on the East LA station 2020, when it moved to dismiss dozens of officers, including Partridge.

This week, after Partridge’s case lingered for six years through state personnel hearings, a Justice Department investigation and trial court, a California appeals court found that a one-year suspension without pay was appropriate discipline, over the objections of the California Highway Patrol, which wanted him fired.

David Mastagni, Partridge’s lawyer, said the ruling “reflects fundamental fairness.”

“Accountability and second chances are not in conflict,” Mastagni said.

No one — not CHP administration, the personnel board, nor the officer himself — dispute what happened: Partridge was paid $288.98 for three hours and 45 minutes of overtime he didn’t work, which investigators alleged was part of a long-running grift at the East LA station to fabricate overtime hours.

Partridge and dozens of other officers were fired in 2020, according to the appeals court decision.

In February 2022, Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a total of 302 criminal counts against 54 officers, alleging they had collectively defrauded the public of more than $200,000.

Those charges didn’t last long. In December 2022, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge offered the officers a deal: Their charges would be reduced from felonies to misdemeanors and then dismissed if they repaid the money.

Fifty-two officers took that deal, The Sacramento Bee reported at the time.

The Highway Patrol called Partridge's actions “inexcusable neglect of duty, dishonesty (and) misuse of state property” when the organization fired him. When Partridge appealed, the State Personnel Board said it was “self-enrichment at the expense of the public’s trust,” but handed down a one-year suspension instead.

Partridge’s bosses found that discipline insufficient, and the CHP asked a California district court judge to override the suspension and reinstate the firing, saying the personnel board abused its discretion in reducing the penalty. The judge denied that petition, siding with the personnel board.

According to his superiors quoted in court documents, Partridge was a good cop. His evaluations recommended him for promotion and his disciplinary record was clean. But the administration at the California Highway Patrol argued at the State Personnel Board and in court that his conduct compromised his integrity.

This week, California’s 2nd District Court of Appeals agreed with the district court judge: The State Personnel Board didn’t overstep its bounds in handing down a one-year suspension.

“A reasonable decisionmaker could have dismissed Partridge, and a reasonable decisionmaker could have—and did—impose a one-year suspension without pay,” the court found.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

For years, roughly 700 beds at Cal State Los Angeles that could be occupied by students have sat empty, even in what officials call a “highly housing challenged area.” The reason? Officials say lack of funding and deferred maintenance.

The out-of-commission resource has languished despite the California State University 2025 Systemwide Housing plan stating there’s a need for about 500 beds at the campus.

“The deferred maintenance happened over a period of several years, under previous leadership for the university and housing,” Erik Hollins, a spokesperson for the university, told LAist in a statement. “The pandemic certainly appears to have been a factor. Addressing accumulated maintenance and then getting those units back in circulation has been a focus of new leadership.”

Housing and Residence Life (HRL), which is responsible for maintenance, runs independent of university operations but reports to the Division of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management. The department has its own budget with funding coming from the rent and meal plans students pay for.

In the most recent housing budget posted online, from the fiscal year 2024-25, no funds were allocated to maintenance. LAist has requested housing budgets for 2025-26 and 2026-27.

It’s not just the beds out of circulation that need maintenance. Cal State L.A.’s student-run news organization reported earlier this year that “work orders for maintenance by those residents have gone unanswered for months, or even in some cases for several consecutive semesters.”

Hollins told LAist there’s demand for housing on campus in addition to modernizing older facilities. Some of the housing that isn’t being used was built in 1984 to house athletes during the Los Angeles Olympics.

“Under new housing leadership, we are reengaging with our Cal State L.A. students on the benefits of living on campus, resolving perception issues around deferred maintenance, and seeking new partnerships with local colleges, universities, and community organizations,” Hollins wrote.

Hollins added that the university is located in a “highly housing challenged area, while also serving a majority of students who live with their families in the immediate surrounding area.”

Cal State LA’s housing troubles

In 2025, auditors reported years of operating losses at Cal State L.A.’s housing program, leading to reserves being depleted.

Auditors noted that occupancy has dropped to as low as 60% in recent years, and student housing required “unanticipated emergency repairs.” Responding to the audit, Cal State L.A.’s director of housing wrote that the university had taken “sweeping corrective measures.”

“Because its apartment complexes are aging, HRL has also been forced to pay for unanticipated emergency repairs and planned maintenance projects that have challenged its budget,” auditors wrote. “These repairs were partially due to HRL not prioritizing deferred maintenance projects during the COVID-19 recovery. There are also ongoing issues with the water system and fan coil breaks at the newer South Village residence hall.”

At the time, Cal State L.A. said it would address the issues by “implementing short-term strategies to boost occupancy rates, student engagement, and facility upgrades, along with long-term strategies to renovate its older facilities and improve affordability.”

The university also said it would partner with community colleges, expand summer conference programs and require first year students to live on campus. In response to the audit, Cal State L.A. also promised facility renovations.

Westminster City Councilmember Amy Phan West caught a break after she was accused of attempting to bribe parking officers who were about to tow her husband's car: A judge ordered her to take an ethics training course and do 20 hours of community service. In exchange, the charge would be dropped.

One year later, Phan West is poised to run for reelection. But the Orange County District Attorney's Office says she has learned nothing from her brush with the law and is asking the judge to revoke the deal and send the case to trial.

In a recent court filing, Deputy District Attorney Matthew Bradbury gave examples of what he called Phan West’s “repeated and ongoing misuse of her official position” to argue that the councilmember hadn’t accepted responsibility for the alleged crime or taken the mandatory ethics training to heart.

“The Defendant’s actions only serve to undermine the public’s faith in the justice system,” Bradbury wrote, adding that they “warrant no leniency.” In the past, Phan West has denied wrongdoing and said she is being unfairly targeted for for being outspoken.

LAist called and left a text message on Phan West’s phone requesting comment on the DA’s recent filing. LAist also sent an email to Phan West’s defense attorney, Randy Collins. We will update this story if and when we get a response.

What the court records say

In the filing, Bradbury, the deputy district attorney, said that in the year since Phan West was charged with attempted bribery, she appears to have repeatedly violated rules intended to bar local officials from using public resources for campaign activities. She also mocked the case against her, Bradbury said, showing no sense of accountability.

The DA’s examples of Phan West’s alleged continued ethics violations include:

• At Westminster’s annual Tet parade in February, Phan West handed out flyers for her Congressional race — a potential violation of rules against local officials using public resources for campaign activities. (Phan West lost in the June primary.)  
  
• In May, Phan West gave a media interview about her Congressional run from her Westminster City Council office, a potentially similar violation. 
  
• Phan West has repeatedly downplayed the criminal charge against her and disparaged the legal process in public comments and social media posts. In response to a question at a candidate forum, she called it a “jungle-like court” and compared her legal problems to the President’s. “Like how they’re doing it to Donald J. Trump — it’s the same thing they’re doing to take me out,” Phan West said, according to the court filing. 

What happened at city hall?

Phan West has repeatedly clashed with the majority of her council colleagues in recent years. In 2024, the council officially censured Phan West for behavior that allegedly included improperly disclosing confidential information and lying. The city later sued Phan West and allied councilmember NamQuan Nguyen for repeatedly disrupting meetings and creating a “dysfunctional and raucous” atmosphere.

Phan West has accused her opponents on the City Council of violating her right to free speech and waging a personal vendetta against her.

What's next?

Phan West officially filed papers earlier this week to run for re-election to Westminster City Council in November.

A hearing to determine whether Phan West has complied with previous court orders in the case so far is scheduled for Aug. 11 in O.C. Superior Court in Westminster.