Oregon Becomes First State to Ditch Single-Family Zoning
State lawmakers end the legislative sessions by passing a bill that will allow for denser housing construction across the state.
Affordable Housing
San Francisco Developer Proposes Private Housing Project in 2014. City Delays For Years Before Deciding to Spend Millions Developing the Site Itself. Construction Might Start by 2022.
Delaying housing projects for years will not make cities more affordable.
Seattle Doesn't Want You To Have A Big House
Proposed legislation aims to crack down on "McMansions."
Is California's Watered-Down Rent Control Bill Still Problematic?
A compromise version of the bill would cap rent increases at 7 percent plus inflation for three years.
Landmark California Housing Bill Stalls in State Legislature
SB 50's upzoning provisions were repeatedly watered down to make the bill more politically palatable. It turns out that wasn't enough.
Florida Bill Would Ban Cities From Requiring Developers to Build Affordable Housing
"When you start having mandates and [the] state setting price controls, you create all kinds of distortions in the market."
Affordable Housing Debate Pits California Cities Against Suburbs. Both Need Freer Markets.
A flaw in a proposal that would let developers build more high-density apartments and condos is that it doesn't go nearly far enough
California Housing Reform Bill Survives a Crucial Vote, but at What Cost?
SB 50 is starting to look less like a bold reform, and more like a marginal improvement on a dreadful status quo.
Activists Launch Fresh Effort To Get Rent Control on California's State Ballot
Fresh from their 2018 defeat, California's rent control advocates are back with another statewide ballot initiative.
Is Marginally Loosening California's Zoning Restrictions Racist?
A new mailer from the AIDS Healthcare Foundation argues that allowing the construction of apartment buildings near transit stops is tantamount to "negro removal."
California's Unfixable Housing Mess Is Years in the Making
At least now we're arguing over the right thing: the need to hike housing supply.
Housing-Starved San Francisco Shoots Down New Apartment Project Because It Would Cast Shadow on Nearby Park. Again.
This is not the first time the city has tried to delay a project over shadow concerns.
NIMBYs Argue New Housing Supply Doesn't Make Cities Affordable. They're Wrong.
Tokyo is a shining example of how free market housing regulations can keep even big, growing cities affordable.
Kamala Harris Enthusiastically Endorses Rent Control
The senator's own San Francisco is a case study in the policy's poor consequences.
Oregon Passes Nation's First Statewide Rent Control Law
The bill comes with new risks for tenants and property owners alike.
Cory Booker Understands Restrictive Zoning Codes Are a Problem. How Much Will That Matter for His Presidential Run?
All three Senate Democrats running for president have distinctive housing reform proposals.
Two Lawsuits Show What a Hot Mess California Housing Politics Is Right Now
How much power does the state of California have to force NIMBY localities to build more housing?
At the Most Expensive Affordable Housing Project in America, Every Apartment Cost $739,000 To Build
How a heavily subsidized Culver City development became the nation's most expensive affordable housing project.
Bill de Blasio: 'We Will Seize Their Buildings, and We Will Put Them in the Hands of a Community Nonprofit'
NYC's mayor takes on private property (again).
Ben Carson Battles the NIMBYs
The HUD secretary's desire to tackle restrictive zoning is encouraging, but real reform will have to come from the bottom up.
This Insane Battle To Block a New Apartment Building Explains Why San Francisco and Other Cities Are So Expensive
Bob Tillman has spent nearly 5 years and $1.4 million trying to convert his laundromat into new housing.
Progress in the Struggle Against Exclusionary Zoning
Reforms in multiple jurisdictions could help loosen restrictions on development that infringe on property rights, inflate housing prices, and cut off large numbers of people from job opportunities.
Minneapolis Strikes a Blow for Affordable Housing by Slashing Zoning Restrictions
Zoning rules that severely restrict home construction cut off millions of poor people from jobs and affordable housing. The Minneapolis reform is the most extensive reduction in zoning achieved by any major American city in a long time.
81 Percent of Homes in the San Francisco Metro Area Are Worth More Than $1 Million. That's Not Normal.
Restrictions on the supply of new housing are making California's cities increasingly unaffordable.
San Francisco Activists Irate That Developer Wants To Replace Burned Out Apartment Building With—Wait for It—More Apartments
Community members in the Mission District worry that the proposed market-rate development will spur gentrification.
A New Company Helps People Flee San Francisco's Ridiculous Cost of Living
Leaving The Bay Area is a real estate brokerage that helps people decamp for cheaper, greener pastures.
Booming Construction and Falling Rents in Seattle and Portland Show Laws of Supply and Demand Still Apply to Housing
Despite the claims of NIMBY activists, cities can build their way out of a housing crunch
Victory for Low Expectations! New California Housing Bill Isn't Terrible!
A positive but marginal reform to the Golden State's byzantine housing regulations
Elizabeth Warren's New Bill Would Spend $500 Billion on Housing
The American Housing and Economic Mobility Act would nearly double current federal housing spending.
Report: Federal Low Income Housing Program Lacks Basic Anti-Fraud Safeguards
The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program is on the receiving end of yet another negative government watchdog report.
Seattle's Socialist City Council Member Thinks Housing Is a Human Right—Unless it Comes at the Expense of Music Venues
Khsama Sawant is doing everything in her power to kill a 442-unit apartment project because it would replace an iconic concert hall.
San Francisco Activists Demanded 100 Percent Affordable Housing From a Developer. Now They're Getting None.
Saddled with unaffordable requirements, Axis kills plans for a 117-unit apartment building.
NIMBYs to Developer: Your Proposed Building Blocks Too Much Sun, Reminds Us of Native American Genocide
Hysterical NIMBYism reaches new heights in Berkeley.
Jay Austin, Tiny House Innovator, Killed in Attack Claimed by ISIS
Austin was part of a group murdered in Tajikistan.
New Kamala Harris Bill Asks Federal Taxpayers to Subsidize California's High Housing Costs
Expensive tax credits for renters are not the solution to America's housing woes.
Trump's Plan To Privatize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Leaves Taxpayers on the Hook for Future Bailouts
In his sweeping reform proposal, President Trump suggests a privatization scheme for the GSEs behind the 2008 recession, but it doesn't go nearly far enough.
San Francisco Delays Building 4 Years in the Making Because New Apartments Will Cast Shadows?!
The owner of a "historic" laundromat has been thwarted at every turn in his bid to build apartments in a city in the midst of a housing crisis.
A New Report Exaggerates the Problem of Housing Affordability To Push Expensive Federal Interventions
The 2018 "Out of Reach" report ignores the many options available to workers about how they live, work, and spend
Philadelphia Wants To Tax Housing Construction to Make Housing Cheaper
Real estate investors worry a new construction tax will halt construction in an already-heavily taxed city.
In Seattle, Amazon Shrugs
The city attempts to wring more money from its employers rather than fix its housing problems.
The Defeat of California Senate Bill 827 and the Future of the Struggle to Curb Zoning
A California bill that would have greatly liberalized zoning rules failed in the state legislature. The defeat has implications for the broader struggle to expand housing and job opportunities for the poor.
Los Angeles Spends More Than a Decade Trying to Turn a Vacant Lot Into 'Transit-Oriented Development'
There are no angels in this long-running turf war.
Trump's Tariffs Will Make Housing More Unaffordable
Steel tariffs are likely to make prices rise further, particularly in markets where housing demand is already outpacing supply.
San Francisco Man Has Spent 4 Years and $1 Million Trying to Get Approval to Turn His Own Laundromat Into an Apartment Building
Now the city wants the laundromat studied to see if it is a historic resource.
NIMBYism in San Francisco Reaches New Heights With Shorter Buildings
Neighborhood residents demand a proposed affordable housing complex be five stories, not seven, to preserve "neighborhood character."
Los Angeles Wants to Make Housing Affordable by Making it More Expensive
The city's new Linkage Fee law piles millions in new costs onto developers.
