The 50-Year Mortgage: Completely Fine or a Total Flop?
Mortgage experts are divided on the wisdom of a 50-year mortgage. No one seems to think it's the key to making homeownership affordable.
Housing Policy
Federalist Society National Lawyers Convention Panel on Zoning, Property Rights, and the Housing Crisis
I participated along with James Burling (Pacific Legal Foundation), Prof. Peter Byrne (Georgetown), and Prof. Sara Bronin (George Washington University).
New York Voters Say Yes to Faster Housing Approvals
Does that mean they want more housing generally?
Good Riddance, Andrew Cuomo
The former governor had a bad record, a worse attitude, and zero vision.
6 Zohran Mamdani Campaign Promises That New York City Can't Afford
Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani has been elected mayor by promising New Yorkers “free” programs and services with their own money.
New Jersey Sticks With a Conventional Democrat
Mikie Sherrill will mostly continue business as usual—but with the possibility of some regulatory reform.
Election Day
What races in New York City, New Jersey, and Virginia can tell us about the future of housing policy.
Mamdani's Socialist Mayorship Will Make New York a Worse Place To Live and Do Business
His plans to offer "free" buses and daycare, freeze rents, and create city-owned grocery stores are expensive and proven failures.
Abolish Property Taxes?
Florida Republicans propose not one, not two, but seven different constitutional amendments to cap, cut, or even eliminate property taxes.
New Jersey Town Tentatively Agrees to Not Seize 175-Year-Old Family Farm
After a nationwide uproar over Cranbury, New Jersey's plan to seize Andy Henry's farm, the township says it's found another site to place a planned affordable housing development.
Zohran Mamdani's Socialist Housing Plan Could Crash New York's Rickety Rental Market
The city has the nation’s most regulated housing sector and the largest stock of government-owned and subsidized housing, and yet progressives blame its real estate troubles on the free market.
The Social Housing Plan For New York City
As rental prices in New York City soar, tenant activists are demanding that the government stop landlords from increasing the rent on regulated apartments.
Democrats' Bill Would Let Federal Workers Skip Paying Rent During Government Shutdowns
Suspending federal workers' civil obligations during government shutdowns would be bad news for property rights, landlords, and tenants.
The Zoning Theory of Everything: Abortion Edition
Every political issue ultimately becomes a zoning issue.
The Housing Hero Gotham Deserved
Plus: New York's expensive new stove regulations, Los Angeles rent controls, and the housing policy implications of a federal shutdown.
YIMBY Reforms Win Big In State Legislatures in 2025
In 2025, momentum behind state-level supply-side housing reforms accelerated almost everywhere.
In California, YIMBYs Pass Holy Grail Zoning Reform
Plus: San Francisco preliminarily passes citywide upzoning, a New Jersey town backs off family farm seizure, and YIMBY martial law ruled illegal in Hawaii.
Steamed NIMBYs Mandated Saunas To Stop New Housing
Several Lone Star cities are attempting to undermine new state-level zoning reforms by requiring new apartment buildings come with ritzy amenities.
New York City Wants $250,000 From SoHo Artists Just To Stay in Their Homes
The city that artists built now wants them to pay up.
The Trump Administration's Fake Housing Emergency
The results of America's overly burdensome housing regulations aren't great. But they're not an "emergency."
New Pew Charitable Trusts Repot on "How States and Cities Decimated Americans' Lowest-Cost Housing Option"
They have done so banning or severely restricting low-cost "single-room occupancy" (SRO) housing.
The Man in the Red Beret: What Curtis Sliwa Brings to New York's Wild Mayoral Race
The Guardian Angels founder battles Zohran Mamdani for the anti-establishment vote while he fights Eric Adams and Andrew Cuomo for the anti-socialist vote.
America's Housing Shortage Won't Be Fixed With 'One Weird Trick'
Highlighting individual wonky rules that drive up housing costs is good. But getting America building again is going to require more than a few marginal reforms.
All You Need Is Love (and Deregulation)
Building our way to affordable cities does not require a government-led "post-neoliberal" approach to housing development.
My New Boston Globe Article on Why Massachusetts Should Reject Rent Control, and Instead End Exclusionary Zoning
Rent control would only make the housing crisis worse. Zoning reform would make things better.
Andrew Cuomo Proposes 'Zohran's Law' To Fix the Unfairness of Rent Law Cuomo Signed
Plus: Why Blackstone is good, actually, and a Georgia judge rules for tiny homes.
San Francisco's All-Electric Ordinance Will Make Housing More Expensive
San Francisco’s new ordinance would impose all-electric building standards for new construction projects or buildings undergoing “major renovations.”
Minnesota Town Denies Family Permission To Build Affordable Housing Unit on Their Property
The Pepin family is suing the City of Blaine after the City Council used dubious reasoning to deny a permit for additional housing on their property.
One Big Beautiful Housing Supply Bill
Congress considers a consensus housing supply bill while the White House cracks down on the homeless.
Is Housing 'Out of Reach' for More Than Half of Workers?
Plus: Single-stair reform in Nashville, an inclusionary zoning lawsuit in Seattle, and a zoning-created full-service Popeyes in Illinois.
Rent Prices Are Falling Fast in America's Most Pro-Housing Cities
From January 2024 to January 2025, average rent in Sarasota fell from $3,290 to $1,886 per month.
Conservatives Shouldn't Oppose California's Potential Zoning Reforms
You have rights to your property, not to control others.
Seattle Property Owners Challenge Program That Charges 'Affordable Housing' Fees for Building New Homes
A new lawsuit alleges that the city's Mandatory Housing Affordability program unconstitutionally penalizes property owners just for trying to build housing.
Barack Obama Wants Democrats To Be the YIMBY Party. That's Easier Said Than Done.
The housing crisis is bad for national Democrats. At the state level, it's a political winner.
New Jersey Court Strikes Down Town's Use of Eminent Domain To Skirt Affordable Housing Mandates
Despite the setback, Middletown Township is taking the case to the state supreme court.
Supreme Court Refuses to Consider Eviction Moratorium Takings Case
But Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a strong dissent to denial of certiorari.
Pacific Legal Foundation Symposium on the 100th Anniversary of Euclid v. Ambler Realty
The symposium is seeking submissions.
NIMBY Lawsuit Accidentally Abolishes City's Entire Zoning Code
Plus: The Supreme Court declines to hear major eviction moratorium case, Maine passes zoning reform, and why tourist traps are good, actually.
With Environmental Regulatory Reform, California Gov. Gavin Newsom Finally Does Something Substantial
Without Newsom's efforts, major reforms to California's stifling environmental laws would have died on the vine.
NIMBYism Stifles Housing Construction in Previous Growth Areas
In recent years, exclusionary zoning and other regulatory restrictions have begun to block housing construction in areas where it was once relatively easy.
California Passes Important New YIMBY Housing Law
The new legislation exempts most new urban housing construction from the previously often stifling CEQA law. YIMBY ("yes in my backyard") advocates are cheering.
California Enacts Sweeping Exemption to Development-Killing Environmental Law
Plus: Real rent decreases in New York City, the return of missing middle housing in Virginia, and how everyone's a socialist on housing in New York.
New Jersey Towns Face Setback in Lawsuit Against State's Affordable Housing Mandate
Despite this setback, a coalition of municipalities is challenging the state’s housing program in federal court.
How Texas Beat California on Housing
YIMBY policies in Texas have led to lower rents and increasing supply. The same cannot be said for California.
The Problem With Mike Lee's Public Lands Proposal Is That It Doesn't Sell Off Enough Land
America's housing shortage is worst in Western states. That's also where the federal government owns the most land.
