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.
Housing Policy
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.
Virginia Bill Would End Single-Family-Only Zoning in the Old Dominion
The legislation would allow duplexes on any residential plot in the state.
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?
Activists vs. One Man's Skee-Ball Arcade: How Red Tape Is Ruining San Francisco
Joey Mucha wanted to convert his warehouse into a restaurant, bar, and arcade. Then community activists intervened.
When Shelters Are Full, Can Cities Herd Homeless People Into Jails?
The Ninth Circuit says no, and the Supreme Court isn't weighing in.
Supreme Court Declines To Hear Challenge to Local Inclusionary Zoning Ordinance
The decision leaves intact local governments’ power to force private developers to build affordable housing.
Los Angeles Bans Developers From Making Campaign Donations
In the midst of a housing crisis, L.A. politicians have decided to limit their own incentives to allow more housing construction.
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.
Feds Sue California City Over Law That Mandated Evictions for Criminal Activity—Even When No One Was Arrested or Charged
A Department of Justice lawsuit argues Hesperia’s rental ordinance amounts to illegal racial discrimination.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Is Right to Oppose This NYC Mega-Development
But she's wrong about why it's bad.
Ilhan Omar's $1 Trillion Housing Proposal Is an Expensive Joke
The Homes for All Act misdiagnoses the roots of the country's housing problems, then adds a boundless faith in the feds' ability to solve them.
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.
Pete Buttigieg Has a $1 Trillion Plan to Drive Up Housing, College, and Labor Costs
Dramatic increases in federal spending will not “unlock access” for the poor. It will only help those with the right connections.
