Seattle City Council's Lone Socialist Is Reintroducing Her Amazon Tax
A previous version of the tax was repealed a month after it was passed in 2018.
Affordable Housing
San Francisco Bureaucrats Can Shoot Down Almost Any Housing Project They Want. This Ballot Initiative Would Change That.
Mayor London Breed's Affordable Homes Now initiative would streamline the approval of code-compliant housing projects as long as developers include additional affordable units.
Bernie-Backed Ballot Initiative Would Expand California's Brand New Rent Controls
The new initiative from the AIDS Healthcare Foundation would allow local governments to go beyond the state's existing caps on rent increases.
Adding Jobs but Not Housing Is a Recipe for Urban Unrest
New York City has failed to zone for enough housing to keep pace with growth.
Abolishing Single-Family-Only Zoning Expands Freedom and Choice
And it might make housing more affordable in many places. Conservative NIMBYs should not stand in the way.
Maryland Housing Package Combines Upzoning With Vienna-Style Social Housing
Del. Vaughn Stewart (D–Montgomery County) says a mix of new private and public housing is needed to combat Maryland's housing affordability problems.
A Major California Upzoning Bill Is Back, but Faces an Uncertain Future
Despite amendments to make the bill more palatable to local governments and community activists, Sen. Scott Wiener's (D–San Francisco) SB 50 faces an uphill battle.
Progress on Exclusionary Zoning, Regression on Rent Control
Many jurisdictions are alleviating housing shortgages by cutting back on zoning. Unfortunately, there is also a trend towards expanding rent control, which is likely to have the opposite effect.
The 2010s Were a Terrible Decade for Housing Construction
NIMBYism has dominated housing policy for the last ten years. Will the 2020s be any better?
When Shelters Are Full, Can Cities Herd Homeless People Into Jails?
The Ninth Circuit says no, and the Supreme Court isn't weighing in.
Los Angeles Is Spending Over $1 Billion To House the Homeless. It's Failing.
Los Angeles County saw disease outbreaks and 1,000 homeless deaths last year.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Is Right to Oppose This NYC Mega-Development
But she's wrong about why it's bad.
Democratic Candidates Acknowledge Poor Housing Supply, but Not How Government Causes It
More federal spending won’t make housing more accessible as long as regulations and zoning drive up prices.
Facebook's Plans To Spend $1 Billion on Housing Development Is a Drop in the Bucket
The source of the state's housing affordability problems are onerous government regulations and fees that artificially drive up the costs of housing.
Californians Are Fleeing the State's Progressive Policies
California's progressive political imperatives are having such glaring real-world repercussions that it's hard to keep ignoring them.
When Mandating Affordable Housing Makes Housing Less Affordable
A new study of inclusionary zoning policies in the D.C. and Baltimore metro areas finds that the policy ends up raising rents.
How Rent Control Laws Hurt Tenants
California is about to get a real world lesson in how rent control laws can't solve a housing crisis.
Minneapolis Doesn't Want Landlords to Check Tenants' Criminal History, Credit Score, Past Evictions
The Minneapolis city council just made the rental business a lot riskier for property owners.
California's Political Leaders Strike Deal on Rent Control
Rent increases could be capped at 5 percent plus inflation under a new agreement struck by Gov. Gavin Newsom and state legislative leaders.
New York Passed Sweeping, Progressive Rental Regulations. Now It's Getting Sued.
Landlords are suing to overturn state rental regulations that limit how much they can charge tenants and who they can rent to.
While Homeless Population Balloons, San Francisco Residents Use Environmental Lawsuit to Stop Homeless Shelter
Yet another neighborhood group is using a California environmental regulation to stop a housing project they don't like.
Heads Up, California: Sydney Has Figured Out How to Get the Rents Down
It's by building lots more housing, obviously.
New Numbers Show San Francisco's Homeless Population Has Grown by 30 Percent
This is nearly double the increase the city first reported in May.
Kamala Harris' Plan To End the Racial Homeownership Gap Doubles Down on the Worst Aspects of U.S. Housing Policy
The 2020 contender wants to give $25,000 grants to homebuyers living in historically segregated neighborhoods.
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.
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.
