When Is a Park Fee Unconstitutional?
Plus: San Francisco slashes affordable housing mandates, wide support for streamlining environmental review, and Mamdani's rent ripoff report.
Zoning
Taking the W
Developers rush to use California's new apartments-near-transit law, North Carolina eliminates parking requirements, and the federal housing bill finally becomes law.
Europe, A.C., and the Housing Exception to America's Economic Success Story
Plus: L.A. criminally charges contractors offering to build an ADU in the Palisades, South Carolina streamlines squatter removal, and a Florida city uses eminent domain to thwart state housing law.
Pick Your YIMBY
The D.C. mayoral race offers two leading candidates who are saying a lot of the right things about housing supply.
Fewer Migrants, Fewer Homeless
The rare reported fall in the nation's homeless population is mostly the result of the ebbing migrant surge of 2023 and 2024.
A Reprieve for Build-To-Rent
The House passes a housing bill that protects build-to-rent development while still cracking down on large investors.
Matt Yglesias on Libertarianism, Abundance Liberalism, and a Possible Alliance Between the Two
Yglesias supports an alliance and has key points of agreement with libertarians, but also criticisms of libertarianism. I welcome former and respond to the latter.
What I Learned Shadowing California's Katana-Wielding Anti-Squatter Enforcers
California's failure to eject squatters from the properties they've seized undermines the state's new housing laws.
The Need for Prick-Proof Housing Laws
Plus: the damage done by inclusionary zoning, total YIMBY victory at California gubernatorial forum, and Trump's reversion of build-to-rent
Important Takings Challenge to Los Angeles Historic Preservation Law "Monument" Designation
Historic preservation laws often violate constitutional property rights, and block construction of new housing.
Historic Taking
The owners of the house that Marilyn Monroe died in claim in a lawsuit that the city took their property when it landmarked it.
Two Cheers for Abundance Liberalism
This emerging school of thought has its flaws. But it's a potentially valuable ally for libertarians and other free market advocates.
The Gem State Shines on Zoning Reform
What Idaho's slew of zoning reforms says about YIMBY politics and policymaking in the states.
State vs. Local, State vs. State
A popular revolt against state-led zoning reform in Colorado, Massachusetts' contradictory approach to housing supply, and how municipalities lobby to kill housing.
Zoning's War on Cuddly Animals, Cute Kids, and Christian Charity
A recent string of zoning controversies show how land use regulations have become the enemy of all good things.
Live Free or Ban Data Centers
Plus: D.C. considers single-stair reform, Idaho legalizes starter homes, and Florida bans discrimination against manufactured housing.
New Book Chapter on "The Right to Use Private Property"
It argues that the right to use property is central to both the value of property rights generally, and the property rights protected by the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment.
The D.C. Streetcar's Other Failures
Plus: The "Montana miracle" wins one last court battle, D.C.'s "devastatingly unambitious" growth plan, and your Fourth Amendment right to refuse federal housing vouchers.
Congress' Housing Bill Goes From Small Supply Booster to Housing Killer
The Senate's proposed inclusion of an effective ban on build-to-rent housing in a bipartisan housing bill could significantly shrink new home production.
Sunnyside Yards and the Errors of Pro-Growth Progressivism
Plus: New Jersey property owners survive an eminent domain attempt based on bogus blight allegations, a corporate homebuyer ban is slipped into Congress' housing bill, and the true cost of permitting in L.A.
The Flaws of 'Funded' Inclusionary Zoning
Taxing new housing will always reduce housing production.
Florida Embraces New Urbanist Mega-Developments
Plus: Zohran Mamdani's rent rip-off hearings exclude public housing tenants, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu is a "yes" on rent control, and the intersection of zoning and qualified immunity.
Can Congress Get 'YIMBY Grants' Right?
Plus: The House passes housing reform, Florida advances ADUs, and Zohran Mamdani hosts show trials for bad landlords.
Housing Policy Can Be Win-Win
Allowing more homes to be built on existing residential land would be good for homeowners, homebuyers, and homebuilders.
The Great Zoning Crackdown on Data Centers
Plus: The Trump administration wants to roll back "disparate impact" regulations, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul wants to roll back environmental review regulations, and L.A. waives fees for wildfire rebuilds.
The Year of the Starter Home
Lawmakers across the country are introducing bills that would make it easier to build smaller single-family homes on small lots.
Trump's Proposed Ban on Institutional Investors Owning Single-Family Homes Would Make No One Better Off
While owning a very small percentage of single-family homes, large investors provide renters with more options and increase home construction rates.
Barring Institutional Investors From Buying Homes Won't Make Housing More Affordable - and Would Likely Make Things Worse
There is no evidence that institutional investors increase prices. Barring them from the market could actually exacerbate the housing crisis.
The Contradictions of Supply-Side Socialism
Zohran Mamdani signs executive orders to speed up new construction. His housing policy picks also want to abolish private property.
Yale Journal on Regulation Symposium on the 20th Anniversary of Kelo v. City of New London
I co-edited the symposium along with Eric Claeys and David Schleicher, and am also one of the contributors.
Unlearning History
Three decades after Massachusetts ended its disastrous experiment with rent control, voters are considering giving the policy another shot.
Is Zohran Mamdani Coming Around to Housing Deregulation?
New York's new mayor has moved away from some of his far-left beliefs, acknowledging that private businesses play an important role in homebuilding.
Would Star Trek's Transporter Destroy Cities or Save Them?
What a speculative technology can tell us about the demands for urban density and sprawl
Trump Blames Illegal Immigrants for High Housing Prices. Blame Zoning Instead.
Low-skilled immigrants would expand the supply of housing more than they increase demand, if local governments would just allow new construction.
Bernie Sanders Wants To Pause New Data Centers To Stop the Economy From Growing Too Much
The socialist senator wants a moratorium on new data centers to slow the AI and robotics industries down.
Localism and the Limits of Regulating What We Love
When the perceived emotional harm from new development becomes a justification for state intervention, the law gets really arbitrary really quickly.
Non-Paywalled Version of My Washington Examiner Article on "Foot Voting, Housing, and Affordability"
The Cato Institute has posted one on its website.
What America Can Learn From Japanese Housing
On housing policy, America needs to be less fascist King Kong and more free-market Godzilla.
My New Washington Examiner Article on "Foot Voting, Housing, and Affordability"
We can make housing more affordable and empower people to "vote with their feet" by curbing exclusionary zoning. Left and right should support that instead of counterproductive snake oil like rent control, tariffs, and deportations.
In Connecticut, Zoning Reform Is Back From the Dead
Plus: A challenge to the Trump administration's shift away from "housing first" and reflections on the West's "Great Downzoning"
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).
Election Day
What races in New York City, New Jersey, and Virginia can tell us about the future of housing policy.
Marc Benioff's Ideas for Fixing San Francisco Keep Getting Worse
The billionaire Salesforce CEO said Trump should use the National Guard to clean up San Francisco's streets.
The Zoning Theory of Everything: Abortion Edition
Every political issue ultimately becomes a zoning issue.
