A Legal Challenge to New York's Latest Rent Control Laws
Government growth and abuses are not challenged nearly enough.
Housing Policy
Trump's Bizarre Twitter Attack on Obama-Era Fair Housing Regs Reveals an Administration at War With Itself
The president's criticism of the 2015 AFFH rule is an implicit attack on his own housing reforms.
Landlords Are Suing To Overturn State Eviction Moratoriums. State Legislators Want To Extend and Expand Them.
What started as a largely uncontroversial emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic has now become subject of intense legal and policy battles.
Backyard Cottages Could Be the Most Feasible Type of Housing To Build During COVID-19. Some California Cities Are Still Blocking Them.
The California state legislature has done everything in its power to legalize accessory dwelling units. A new lawsuit probes whether it's done enough.
Pelosi's $3 Trillion Coronavirus Relief Bill Includes $175 Billion in Homeowner, Renter Assistance, and Blanket Ban on Evictions
Democrats' HEROES Act is mostly about messaging. And it sends all the wrong messages on housing.
Democrats Want To Give Renters $100 Billion To Cope With the Coronavirus
Giving renters direct assistance is a better idea than rent cancelation, but that's not saying much.
Who Should Pay the Rent During a Pandemic?
Rent strikes and calls for rent cancellation proliferate across the country.
COVID-19 Could Force City Planners To Rethink Their Priorities
The coronavirus shutdown might alter buying patterns, as more people flee tightly packed cities for suburban, exurban, and rural areas.
Ilhan Omar's Bill Would Enable the Feds To Seize Landlords' Properties for Trying To Collect Rent During Coronavirus
The Minnesota congresswoman's proposal to cancel rents and mortgages during the coronavirus pandemic is both wildly impractical and constitutionally dubious.
Can't Afford Your Rent? Blame Herbert Hoover.
The feds pushed cities to implement zoning restrictions. High prices and social inequality were the inevitable results.
With 30 Percent of Tenants Unable To Pay Their Bills This Month Due to COVID-19, Many Want Rent Canceled
Alexandria, Virginia, is the latest city to entertain demands to cancel rent payments during the current pandemic.
Emergency COVID-19 Rules Effectively Give California's NIMBYs Unlimited Time To File Anti-Housing Environmental Lawsuits
And they are taking full advantage of the opportunity
California's Eviction Ban Will Worsen Current Economic Woes
Yes, tenants are losing their jobs because of the COVID-19 shutdown, but forcing businesses to provide services for free would have a ripple effect.
New York Legislators Introduce Bill To Cancel Rent for 90 Days for Workers Affected By Coronavirus Closures
Sen. Mike Gianaris (D–Queens) argues eviction moratoriums don't go far enough to protect renters who've been put out of a job because of the virus.
Federal 'Fair Housing' Policy Set for a Major Overhaul
The new rule would ask localities receiving federal funding to report on their housing market outcomes and propose concrete steps for improving affordability.
Politicians Declare Eviction Moratoriums To Combat Coronavirus. Will They Give Up That Power After the Virus Fades?
Emergency measures can easily become routine policy.
Minnesota Is Latest State to Consider Ban on Single-Family Zoning
State legislators want to allow duplexes statewide and eliminate local governments' ability to impose aesthetic design requirements.
California Wants To Carve Out Religious Exemptions to Its Insane Housing Laws
State lawmakers want to override local zoning codes to let churches and other nonprofits build affordable housing on their own land.
San Francisco Has Added a Lot of Jobs but Not Enough Housing. City Voters Approved a Ballot Initiative That Cuts Back on the Jobs.
The city's voters, politicians, and activists should stop trying to dictate how exactly their city will change over the years. They’re not very good at it.
California's Government Has Turned Homelessness Into Big Business
The new money will be consumed in a bureaucratic hiring frenzy, used to pay state-level salaries and pensions, and build a bigger "homeless industrial complex."
Bernie Sanders Signal-Boosts Boston Activists Fighting 10,000 New Homes That Would Replace a Dilapidated Horse Racing Track
Local activists have argued that the housing officials in charge of reviewing the Suffolk Downs mega-development has violated residents' civil rights by not translating enough planning documents into Spanish, Arabic
Density or Sprawl? How To Solve the Urban Housing Crisis
Land use regulation is making cities unaffordable. In an unfettered market, how would Americans choose to live?
California's Fees on New Development Are 3 Times the National Average. New State Legislation Would Cap Them.
California lawmakers have introduced legislation to cap impact fees, change the way they are assessed, and give developers more tools to claw back unjustified charges.
Judge Rules Developers Must Remove Up to 20 Existing Floors From Manhattan Condo Tower
Two non-profit groups argued that developers had been improperly awarded a building permit for a 112-unit condo building on Manhattan's Upper West Side.
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.
NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio Wants to Use Commercial Rent Control to Save Small Businesses
City reports and industry find taxes, regulation, and permitting delays are often a bigger drag on small businesses than rising rents.
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.
New York Regulators Issue Surprise Ban on Charging Renters Broker Fees
Brokers and building owners are vowing to fight a regulation they say will be catastrophic for their industry.
L.A. Politicians Want To Seize Private Apartment Building to Prevent Rent Increases
Gil Cedillo, city councilmember, has introduced a motion asking the city to study its options for seizing the 124-unit Hillside Villa.
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.
For the Third Year in a Row, California Legislators Have Killed a Promising Housing Reform Bill
SB 50 would have legalized mid-rise apartments near transit stops and employment centers. State lawmakers felt it went too far and/or not far enough.
New York's Progressive Rent Regulations Having the Exact Same Negative Consequence That Skeptics Predicted
New York told landlords they couldn't pass along renovation costs, so landlords stopped doing renovations
Is Houston's Affordability Just a Myth?
A new article argues unconvincingly that the sprawling Texas metro is less affordable than ultra-expensive New York City after accounting for higher transportation costs and lower incomes.
Oakland Uses SWAT Force With Tanks and an Armored Vehicle To Evict Squatting Activists
A group of homeless mothers moved into an Oakland, California, home they didn't own.
Gavin Newsom's Solution to California's Homelessness Problem: Throw Another Billion Dollars at It
But the underlying problems remain unaddressed.
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.
New Trump Administration Regulations Say That Affordable Housing Is Fair Housing
The Trump administration's proposed rewrite of fair housing regulations would ditch lengthy Obama-era reporting requirements in favor of a laserlike focus on housing affordability.
