Mercury: Affordable housing crisis: Can Sacramento get it under control?

As home prices and rents soar to unthinkable levels, California lawmakers are working furiously to drum up the votes for a package of bills they hope will help contain the spiraling affordable housing crisis. With less than two weeks left in the legislative session — as lawmakers scramble to pass hundreds of bills dealing with everything from prescription drug prices to immigration enforcement — a vote on the housing package is coming down to the wire. But as of Tuesday afternoon, the only bill that would create a permanent funding source for affordable housing, Senate Bill 2, was still short of the votes it needs to pass.