San Francisco Mayor Slaps Down Clever Plot To Make Housing Crisis Worse
The mayor vetoed a controversial ordinance that would have legalized more types of housing on paper while making it harder to build in practice.
Affordable Housing
Is South Florida's Housing Market Too Hot?
Zoning laws, a limited housing stock, and inflation have created a major housing shortage in the bubble-prone region.
Is the Nation's Harshest Rent Control Law Unconstitutional, or Just Counterproductive?
Two St. Paul, Minnesota, landlords claim that the city's restrictions on rent increases above 3 percent amounts to a taking of their property without due process or compensation.
California's Competitors
Miami and Austin lured people away from California. But the new tech hubs could end up repeating San Francisco’s mistakes.
What John Oliver Gets Wrong About Rising Rents
The comedian largely ignores laws against new supply while arguing we should declare housing a federally funded, government-provided human right.
Beyond NIMBY vs. YIMBY - How Current Homeowners Can Benefit from Zoning Deregulation
Even if the value of their property goes down, current homeowners still often have much to gain from breaking down barriers to new housing construction.
Does Affordable Housing Make the Surrounding Neighborhood Less Affordable?
A Urban Institute research brief found that affordable housing developments in Alexandria, Virginia, were associated with a small increase in surrounding property values.
Portland Legalized 'Missing Middle' Housing. Now It's Trying to Make It Easy to Build.
This month, the city passed a number of liberalizing reforms that legalize more types of housing and make already-legal homes more practical to build.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
New York City Considers Requiring Landlords to Provide Free Internet to Tenants
A new bill introduced by Council Member Ben Kallos would require landlords to provide broadband internet. It would also forbid them from passing on the costs of internet service to tenants.
Berliners Endorse Creative New Housing Affordability Plan: Steal Buildings From Private Owners
The nonbinding ballot initiative encourages the city government to expropriate roughly 15 percent of the city's rental housing stock.
Vacant Homes Aren't Making Cities Expensive
And vacancy taxes won't make them affordable.
When We Reject Immigrants, We Reject Trillions of Dollars in Wealth
Growing evidence confirms that barriers to immigration make us all worse off.
The Federal Government Cautions Incoming Afghan Refugees Against Moving To California
Both liberals and conservatives could take some lessons from the U.S. State Department's list of cities that it recommends Afghan refugees relocate to.
Would the Mother of All NIMBY Ballot Initiatives Accidentally Allow More Development?
California activists have proposed a ballot initiative that would effectively strip the state government of the ability to regulate land use.
The Number of 'Super Commuters' Explodes in America's Housing-Starved Metros
The number of people spending more than 90 minutes getting to work has grown 45 percent over the past decade, according to a new study.
Candyman Is a Sharp Deconstruction of Political Horror Movies
Horror filmmaking has always been political, but the new Candyman takes it to a different level.
Rashida Tlaib Supports Legislation Canceling Rent. She Also Made Up to $50,000 as Landlord Last Year.
The Michigan congresswoman is a co-sponsor of a bill that would suspend all tenants' obligation to pay rent through April 2022.
