Bryan Caplan on NIMBYism and Economic Ignorance
Leading expert on political ignorance and housing comments on evidence indicating that ignorance, not self-interest, is at the root of most opposition to zoning reform.
Affordable Housing
Don't Buy the Social Housing Hype
Cities become affordable when they build a lot of housing, not when they subsidize it.
Homelessness Isn't an Unfixable Problem
Start by looking at the government policies that have made it worse.
Conservatives Pushing 'Common Good Capitalism' Sound a Lot Like Progressives
The ideology champions the same tired policies that big government types predictably propose whenever they see something they don't like.
Economists Are Right To Hate Rent Control
Progressives like to argue that rent control policies that exempt new construction don't impact the construction of new housing.
Texas Bill Would Legalize Townhouses
The Texas Senate has passed two bills legalizing building homes on smaller lots and accessory dwelling units across the state.
Inflation Ticks Higher in April as Rents Keep Rising
Is this the new normal, and will Joe Biden pay a political price for it?
Federal Zoning Bill Would Preempt Local Parking Mandates
The legislation would give property owners "sole discretion" in deciding how many parking spaces they want to build.
A YIMBY Victory in Montana
Montana's sweeping new zoning reform is both good in itself and a potential model for cross-ideological cooperation on this issue elsewhere.
More Evidence that Cutting Zoning Restrictions Reduces the Price of Housing
A new Pew Charitable Trusts study examining jurisdictions with that reformed zoning finds far lower rent increases there than elsewhere.
California's Builders and YIMBYs at Loggerheads Over Bill Cracking Down on 'Unchecked Sprawl'
Activists who would like to see more housing built and people who build housing for a living would seem to be natural allies. A new bill in the California Legislature is driving them apart.
Why Homelessness Is Worse in California Than in Texas
Today, the Lone Star state counts 90 homeless people per every 100,000 residents. In California, the problem is almost five times as bad.
Debate: Mentally Ill Homeless People Must Be Locked Up for Public Safety
Have we forgotten the era of mass institutionalization?
Texas Considers Bill To Privatize the Business of Issuing Building Permits
If a municipality fails to approve or deny a permit by state-set deadlines, developers could hire private third parties to get the job done.
The First 'Missing Middle' Reform of the Year Has Passed. Will It Get Housing Built?
Arlington's successful passage of a modest missing middle housing reform bill after an intense debate raises the question of whether YIMBY politics can practically fix the problems it sets out to address.
DeSantis Signs Bill Banning Rent Control, Preempting Local Zoning Restrictions
The new law would allow developers to build housing on commercially zoned lots provided they include affordable units.
New York Lawmakers Could Pass the Nation's Strictest State-Level Rent Control Law by the End of the Week
A controversial "good cause" eviction bill that would cap rent increases could be included in a budget bill that must pass by April 1.
Blame Regulations, Not Foreign Buyers, for High Housing Costs
Restricting foreign real estate ownership has something for both sides—conservatives don't like foreigners, and progressives don't like capital.
A Town Without Zoning Fights To Stay Free
In Caroline, New York, officials are trying to impose the city's first zoning code. These residents won't have it.
Arlington, Virginia Enacts "Missing Middle" Zoning Reform
The new policy isn't ideal. But it's an important deregulatory step in the right direction, making it easier to build new housing in response to growing demand.
The Zoning Theory of Everything
Land use policies explain the battles over everything from the Great Recession to abortion to Donald Trump.
The One-Way Rent Control Ratchet
The allegedly smart balance "anti-rent gouging" policies have struck between supply and stability is already unraveling.
Despite Multiple States Abolishing Single-Family-Only Zoning, Very Few Duplexes and Triplexes Are Being Built
A new report illustrates that the middle of the housing market is still missing.
Bailouts Should Not Be the Norm
During the pandemic, the U.S. mortgage market avoided collapse without any bailouts. Here's how.
Is This the Year California's Development-Killing Environmental Review Law Sees Serious Reform?
Yet another court decision stopping a U.C. Berkeley housing project is getting California's policy makers to think bigger about reforming the infamous California Environmental Quality Act.
Will Oregon's Housing Reforms Spark a Building Boom or Be a Bureaucratic Bust?
Lawmakers are considering giving state officials the ability to rewrite NIMBY cities' restrictive zoning codes.
The Decent Idea Buried in Trump's Goofy 'Freedom Cities' Plan
The federal government owns the majority of land in states that have seen the biggest pandemic-era housing price spikes. Selling that land off for residential development makes abundant sense.
Ex-Lawmakers, Socialist City Councilmember Fight Putting New Housing on Shuttered Denver Golf Course
An oddball coalition of neighborhood activists and left-wing politicians have opposed plans to convert the privately owned site to housing, citing the loss of open space and impacts on gentrification.
Colorado Is the Latest State To Consider Rent Control
Plus: The U.S. Supreme Court considers another internet free speech case, the Department of Transportation pushes expensive new rail regs, and more...
Massachusetts Voters Ended Rent Control Decades Ago. Boston's Mayor Wants To Bring It Back.
The city's old-school rent control scheme worsened housing quality but had no effect on housing supply. Mayor Michelle Wu's new rent control law will likely have the opposite effect.
Federal Appeals Court Rejects Rent Control Challenge, Says Government Has Wide Powers To Regulate Land Use
The 2nd Circuit reasoned that the government hasn't necessarily taken a landlord's property when it forces him or her to operate at a loss while renting to a tenant he or she never agreed to host.
The Biden Administration Flirts With Imposing Nationwide Rent Control Via Executive Action
The White House's idea of using Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to adopt rent control faces numerous legal and practical hurdles.
Elizabeth Warren, Jamaal Bowman Want To Give Lina Khan the Power To Impose Rent Control on the Whole Country
Warren and fellow progressive Democrats have asked President Joe Biden to use the FTC, HUD, or maybe the FHFA to impose nationwide rent control.
The International Idiocy of the 15-Minute City
Planners and politicians from Saudi Arabia to Scotland want to transform interconnected cities into isolated "urban villages" no one ever needs to leave.
Zoning Police Continue To Find New Ways To Punish the Poor
Multiple factors contribute to housing shortages, but zoning constraints are mostly to blame.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul's Housing Plan Avoids Common Mistake of Other YIMBY Reforms
The governor would let developers route around local zoning codes and get housing projects approved directly by state officials.
Help the Working Class by Deregulating Housing Construction
Economist Bryan Caplan explains how cutting back on zoning and other restrictions could create millions of new jobs for workers - on top of other beneficial effects.
'Working Class' Reps Say They Can't Afford D.C. Rents While Earning $174,000 a Year
Progressive politicians are irritated they have to make the same tradeoffs in their living situation as other high-income professionals.
Canada Welcomes the New Year by Banning Foreign Home Ownership
Taxes and bans on foreign home ownership haven't arrested home price increases where they've been tried. There's no reason to think Canada's policy will be more successful.
The Pandemic Was a Disaster for Housing Affordability. 2023 Might Be a Little Better.
Rents and home prices skyrocketed almost everywhere over the past two years. There's some hope new supply will bring costs down in the new year.
Los Angeles County Extends Its Eviction Moratorium Again, Citing Rising COVID, Flu, RSV Cases
Landlords say that nearly three years of eviction moratoriums is forcing some property owners out of the rental business entirely.
New HUD Report Shows Steady Pandemic-Era Increase in Unsheltered Homeless Population
The overall homeless population stayed basically flat from 2020 to 2022. But the number of people sleeping on the streets increased 3.4 percent.
California's Landmark Environmental Law Finally Comes for the Legislature Itself
Golden State lawmakers have refused to fix the California Environmental Quality Act. Now it could cost them a brand new office building.
Will Eric Adams' 'Get Stuff Built' Plan Actually Get Stuff Built?
The mayor is proposing a long list of helpful, but marginal, reforms that would speed up the city's approval processes for new housing.
Elon Musk Isn't the Only One Fighting Regulators for Turning Offices Into Bedrooms
The rise of remote work has piqued developers' interest in converting empty downtown offices to apartments. Zoning codes and building regulations often make that impossible.
California Bill Would Exempt Church-Sponsored Housing Projects From Hellish Zoning Laws
S.B. 4 would let religious institutions and nonprofit colleges skip the typical environmental review and red tape when building low-income housing on their property.
