Biden's Plan To Link Federal Transportation Spending to Zoning Reform Could Make the Housing Shortage Worse
The administration is encouraging counterproductive "inclusionary zoning" policies that often raise housing prices and reduce supply.
Housing Policy
Is America's Primary Affordable Housing Policy Unconstitutional?
Pittsburgh-area developers argue in a new lawsuit that the city's requirement that they include affordable units in their projects is an unconstitutional taking.
Eliminating Single-Family Zoning Isn't the Reason Minneapolis Is a YIMBY Success Story
Housing production is rising and rents are falling. But newly legal duplexes and triplexes make up only a tiny fraction of new development.
Joe Biden Takes Another Stab at Zoning Reform
The administration is proposing to spend $10 billion over ten years incentivizing local and state governments to remove regulatory barriers to new housing construction.
Maine Could Be the Third State To End Single-Family-Only Zoning
The Pine Tree State is embracing California-style housing reforms. It could run into California-style problems.
Pittsburgh Will Force Private Developers To Build Affordable Housing
These "inclusionary zoning" policies have a record of increasing housing costs and suppressing new housing supply.
Study: St. Paul's Rent Control Law Primarily Provides Benefits for High-Income Renters
A new paper finds that lower income property owners are seeing the biggest falls in property values while high-income renters will get the biggest discounts on rent.
Justin Trudeau's Plan To Ban Foreigners From Buying Canadian Homes Won't Make Housing Affordable
Foreign buyers are a small percentage of new home purchases. Excluding them from the housing market does little to reduce housing costs.
The Pandemic Is Over. California's Pandemic-Era Eviction Protections Are Getting Extended.
A.B. 2179 would stop some local-level eviction moratoriums from going into effect, while leaving untouched ones that have been in place since the beginning of the pandemic.
A Future for Floating Homes
Dutch officials are updating zoning laws to allow homes that are fixed to the shore but rise and fall with the water.
A Fuel Leak From a Navy Facility Could Shut Down All New Development on Hawaii's Most Populous Island
Contamination from the Navy's Red Hill underground fuel facility on Oahu has reduced Honolulu's water supply by 20 percent. Water officials are considering a moratorium on new construction to conserve water.
San Francisco Passes Moratorium on Delivery Warehouses To Shake Down Amazon
City politicians and union activists have said the temporary ban on new delivery warehouses is meant to send a message that the company can't just open a new facility without first providing generous "community benefits."
America's Most Controversial Rent Control Law Is Getting a Hasty Makeover
A collapse in new development activity followed St. Paul voters' approval of a strict, vaguely written rent control ordinance. City and state officials are scrambling over how best to fix the new law.
The Time the Federal Government Built a Flawed Housing Project and Tore It Down 20 Years Later
The government has learned nothing about affordable housing in the 50 years since Pruitt-Igoe came toppling down.
California NIMBYs Are Ruining U.C. Berkeley. Stop Them Before They Kill Again.
A California Supreme Court decision freezing enrollment at the state's flagship university is focusing the public's fury on the normally obscure, but incredibly consequential, California Environmental Quality Act.
How the War on Sprawl Caused High Housing Prices
Since the 1960s, planners have convinced many state and regional governments to limit the physical spread of urban areas.
San Francisco's Efforts to Block Duplexes Could Force It To Allow Skyscrapers Instead
Supervisors have proposed legalizing fourplexes in a way that preserves NIMBYs’ ability to stop new housing. That could trigger the state’s obscure “builder’s remedy.”
L.A. Considers Honoring Civil Rights-Era Housing Activist by Making It Harder To Build Housing
Preservationists hope to make the one-time home of Loren Miller a historic landmark. That it would make it nearly impossible to redevelop the $1.4 million two-bedroom home.
Missouri Lawmakers Propose Ban on Eviction Bans
A series of bills introduced in the state Legislature would prohibit city councils and county courts from adopting their own eviction moratoriums.
Audit: L.A. Spending as Much as $837,000 per Unit of Housing for Homeless
Despite apportioning over $1 billion for homeless housing, cost overruns and sluggish pacing threaten to jeopardize the city project.
Dave Chappelle Is a NIMBY
The comedian doesn’t want a new subdivision behind his house. Fortunately, he can’t stop it.
The Destruction of Detroit's Black Bottom
How the zeal for government project housing killed a prosperous black community in Detroit.
California City Says It Can't Allow Duplexes Because It's Already Overrun by Mountain Lions
"Every house that's built is one more acre taken away from (mountain lions') habitat. Where are they going to go?" asks Woodside Mayor Dick Brown.
Remy: You Need to Calm Down (Taylor Swift Parody)
Remy can’t shake off his distaste for San Francisco NIMBYs
AOC Is a Fake YIMBY
The New York congresswoman has endorsed much-needed zoning reform, but also raised typical NIMBY complaints about projects in her own backyard.
Zoning Officials Stop Church From Opening 40-Bed Shelter in Sub-Zero Temperatures
Gloversville's Free Methodist Church has 40 beds ready and waiting at its downtown shelter. City officials say the zoning code doesn't allow people to sleep in them.
Michael Shellenberger: How Progressives Ruined American Cities
The San Fransicko author on fighting homelessness and mental illnesses without shredding civil liberties.
The New York Times Posts Pro-Rent-Control Cringe
The traditional case for rent control isn't made any more convincing by a Democratic Socialists of America dance number.
Will New York Copy California's Most Successful Housing Reform?
The Golden State's legalization of accessory dwelling units has produced a glut of new housing. New York area policymakers are trying to replicate the success.
The Eviction "Tsunami" that Wasn't
Defenders of the CDC eviction moratorium predicted a "tsunami" of evictions would happen if the policy were rescinded. That hasn't happened.
2021 Was a Great Year for Zoning Reform
Jurisdictions around the world are trying to address high housing costs by eliminating regulations on new housing construction.
Who's Voting with their Feet for Texas and Why
Recent articles in the Texas Monthy and the New York Times provide some useful insight on why Texas has been gaining migrants at such a high rate.
Low-Income Condo Residents Say D.C.'s Demand That They Pay for Restoring Historic Balconies Will Force Them Out of Their Homes
The $1.5 million that it would cost to fully replace balconies at the historic Kenesaw apartment building could end up tripling the condo fees of some low-income residents.
Rent Control Is Fashionable Again. It's Still a Bad Idea.
Even supposedly well-designed rent control policies come at the expense of new supply while creating a class of renters opposed to necessary zoning reforms.
When Lawyers Make Things Worse - Housing Edition
A study suggests that "right-to-counsel" in eviction cases actually leads to greater homelessness.
Private Property Rights Made the First Thanksgiving Possible
Something to be grateful for.
San Francisco Considers Not One but Two Bills Legalizing 'Missing Middle' Housing Citywide. Both Have Flaws.
The otherwise positive proposals are undermined by affordability requirements and density restrictions.
Developers Halt Projects, Mayor Demands Reform After St. Paul Voters Approve Radical Rent Control Ballot Initiative
Unlike almost every rent control law in the country, the ordinance passed by St. Paul voters includes no exemption for new construction.
Biden's Build Back Better Plan Contains One Potentially Helpful Housing Program
Funding for affordable housing and grants to incentivize streamlining zoning laws could represent a policy win for YIMBYs.
Will the Democrats' 'Build Back Better' Bill Do Anything to Fix Zoning?
Will the "Unlocking Possibilities" program be an effective way to spark zoning reforms—or just a subsidy to planning consultants?
Democratic Socialists Lost Big on Election Night With India Walton Defeat
In Buffalo, incumbent Byron Brown staged a successful write-in campaign against DSA-backed candidate India Walton. Elsewhere in the country, DSA candidates won their local races.
In Gangbuster Night for Republicans, Glenn Youngkin Wins Virginia Governor's Race
Plus: The Twin cities both say yes to rent control, Eric Adams will be the next mayor of New York City, and more...
Joe Biden Presses Ahead With Vaccine Mandates, Inviting Legal Challenges
Plus: The Twin Cities will both vote on rent control ballot initiatives, New Jersey and Virginia voters will pick a new governor, and more...
Boston Officials Want to Know if You Think This Dilapidated Shack Is Historically Significant
The city's solicitation of public input on the demolition of shacks, sheds, and boarded up homes is an invitation for NIMBYism.
Georgia City Sued Over Ban on Tiny Houses, Small Cottages
Requiring that homes and apartments be a minimum size is a major driver of high housing costs. A new lawsuit from a nonprofit developer argues those rules are also unconstitutional.