School Choice Faces a New Threat: Local Code Enforcers
Enemies of educational freedom are using inane regulations to target learning pods.
Zoning
Are San Francisco's NIMBYs Finally Getting Their Comeuppance?
State housing officials have launched a first-ever investigation of the city's housing policies and practices, setting the stage for far more sweeping interventions.
Zoning Officials Tell New Hampshire Church It Can't Use Living Room To Host Prayer Meetings
Bedford's New Hope Christian Fellowship Church argues in a lawsuit that the town is applying uniquely restrictive rules to its religious gatherings.
Mobile Homes Are a Crucial Source of Affordable Housing. Politicians Are Trying To Zone Them Out of Town.
The government should not take away reliable and affordable housing from those who need it most.
Another NIMBY Lawsuit Seeks To End New York City Outdoor Dining Program
Several dozen NYC residents want to repeal the regulations allowing outdoor dining in the city.
In Iowa, You No Longer Need a Permit To Sell Guns Across the Road from the Governor's Mansion
A new state law prohibits localities from prohibiting or licensing "no-impact" home-based businesses. That's allowing a Des Moines couple to sell guns from their house located just across the street from the governor's mansion.
Maxine Waters Says She May Not Vote for 'Shameful' Inflation Reduction Act, Citing Lack of Housing Spending
The new reconciliation bill also nixes a zoning reform program that had been included in the more expansive Build Back Better bill.
San Francisco Mayor Slaps Down Clever Plot To Make Housing Crisis Worse
The mayor vetoed a controversial ordinance that would have legalized more types of housing on paper while making it harder to build in practice.
Little Libraries, Free at Last?
Good news for fans of literacy and opponents of restrictive zoning codes
Taxpayers Pay the Price for DeSantis' War on Disney
Florida's governor has declared a regulatory war on one of the state's biggest employers. But it's the taxpayers who may ultimately pay the price.
Is South Florida's Housing Market Too Hot?
Zoning laws, a limited housing stock, and inflation have created a major housing shortage in the bubble-prone region.
Pennsylvania Town Threatens Churches With $500 Fines for Providing Free Meals, Counseling Services
Borough officials in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, told Mission First and Christ Episcopal churches that their charitable work goes beyond what the zoning code allows for downtown churches.
Christopher Alexander's Utopian Blueprint
There is telling people how to live, and there is maximizing people's ability to live the lives they want.
San Francisco Legalizes 'Missing Middle' Housing in the Worst Way Possible
Property owners can now build fourplexes in San Francisco, but only if they've owned the land for five years, place the new units under rent control, and don't try to make them much larger than a single-family home.
Environmentalists' Lawsuit Brings Minneapolis' YIMBY Success Story to a Screeching Halt
Three environmentalists groups had argued that the city failed to perform a state-required environmental analysis of its Minneapolis 2040 comprehensive plan.
Beyond NIMBY vs. YIMBY - How Current Homeowners Can Benefit from Zoning Deregulation
Even if the value of their property goes down, current homeowners still often have much to gain from breaking down barriers to new housing construction.
Portland Legalized 'Missing Middle' Housing. Now It's Trying to Make It Easy to Build.
This month, the city passed a number of liberalizing reforms that legalize more types of housing and make already-legal homes more practical to build.
Labyrinthine Zoning Rules Restricted Homeless Shelters During the Pandemic
As COVID-19 spread across the country, complex rules around land use and building permits made housing the poor and vulnerable effectively impossible.
Eric Adams Wants to Cut a Rug, Zoning Regulations
The mayor's 'City of Yes' initiative would peel back regulations on everything from dancing in bars to all-studio apartment buildings.
Saudi Prince's Plan for 'Walkable' City of Single-File Buildings Could Be Two Miles-Long Skyscrapers Instead
The idea is exactly as dumb as it sounds.
County Where It Took 50 Years To Approve New Subdivision Bans New Airbnbs
Officials in Marin County, California, argue a temporary moratorium on new short-term rentals in western portions of the county is necessary to preserve the area's limited housing stock.
Eliminating Single-Family Zoning Isn't the Reason Minneapolis Is a YIMBY Success Story
Housing production is rising and rents are falling. But newly legal duplexes and triplexes make up only a tiny fraction of new development.
Why Pro-Choice Blue States Should also be Pro-YIMBY
Atlantic writer Jerusalem Demsas argues that blue states can't give "refuge" to people fleeing abortion restrictions if they don't cut back on zoning restrictions that lead to sky-high housing costs.
Will People Vote With Their Feet for Abortion Rights in a Post-Roe World?
The answer to this important question is highly uncertain. I tentatively predict a significant, but still modest, increase in abortion-driven migration.
Montana's Ban on Mask Mandates Is Stopping Local Governments From Enforcing Their Zoning Codes
Officials in Gallatin County, Montana, say a state law that prohibits local governments from forcing businesses to turn customers away is preventing it from cracking down on zoning code violators.
Joe Biden Takes Another Stab at Zoning Reform
The administration is proposing to spend $10 billion over ten years incentivizing local and state governments to remove regulatory barriers to new housing construction.
Her Dream Was To Open a Vegan Tattoo Shop. Zoning Officials Shut Her Down.
"It's a lot to try and put this stuff all together all on my own, using my own savings, and then having to start all over," says Venus Vegan Tattoo owner Selena Carrion.
Maine Could Be the Third State To End Single-Family-Only Zoning
The Pine Tree State is embracing California-style housing reforms. It could run into California-style problems.
Running Bitcoin Miners Out of Town
Trying to sue or zone bitcoin mines out of town is the wrong response to the tradeoffs the industry presents.
Pittsburgh Will Force Private Developers To Build Affordable Housing
These "inclusionary zoning" policies have a record of increasing housing costs and suppressing new housing supply.
Justin Trudeau's Plan To Ban Foreigners From Buying Canadian Homes Won't Make Housing Affordable
Foreign buyers are a small percentage of new home purchases. Excluding them from the housing market does little to reduce housing costs.
Video of American Enterprise Institute Event on my Book "Free to Move: Foot Voting, Migration, and Political Freedom"
It includes commentary by housing policy specialist Emily Hamilton (Mercatus Center), and economist Filipe Campante (Johns Hopkins University).
A Future for Floating Homes
Dutch officials are updating zoning laws to allow homes that are fixed to the shore but rise and fall with the water.
San Francisco Passes Moratorium on Delivery Warehouses To Shake Down Amazon
City politicians and union activists have said the temporary ban on new delivery warehouses is meant to send a message that the company can't just open a new facility without first providing generous "community benefits."
How the War on Sprawl Caused High Housing Prices
Since the 1960s, planners have convinced many state and regional governments to limit the physical spread of urban areas.
San Francisco's Efforts to Block Duplexes Could Force It To Allow Skyscrapers Instead
Supervisors have proposed legalizing fourplexes in a way that preserves NIMBYs’ ability to stop new housing. That could trigger the state’s obscure “builder’s remedy.”
Berkeley NIMBYs Are Taking Advantage of California's Flawed Environmental Regulations
Liberal Berkeley officials might be coming around to the view held by conservative business leaders, who have long argued that California's Environmental Quality Act needs an overhaul.
Cities Force Businesses to Oversupply Parking Spaces. A Lawsuit Says That's Unconstitutional.
Azael Sepulveda is suing the city of Pasadena, Texas over its requirement that his autobody shop add 23 parking spaces he insists he doesn't need and can't afford.
By Forcing U.C. Berkeley To Cut Enrollment, Have California's NIMBYs Finally Gone Too Far?
Lawmakers are proposing to strip neighborhood activists of the legal tools they've used to freeze the university's student population.
Texas Town Shuts Down Her Home Day Care After Nearby Golfers Complain the Kids Were Making Too Much Noise
Bianca King argues in a new lawsuit that Lakeway, Texas, zoning officials illegally deprived her of her right to earn a living by denying her a permit for her home day care business.
An Austin Zoning Technicality Made His Landscaping Business Illegal Overnight
Brandon Krause has spent $30,000 trying to legalize a business that the city said for years was all up to code.
California City Says It Can't Allow Duplexes Because It's Already Overrun by Mountain Lions
"Every house that's built is one more acre taken away from (mountain lions') habitat. Where are they going to go?" asks Woodside Mayor Dick Brown.
Lawsuit: Crackdown on Church Soup Kitchens Violates the First Amendment
St. Timothy's Episcopal Church says that a Brookings, Oregon, law limiting its "benevolent meal service" to two days a week unconstitutionally restricts its religious mission to feed the hungry.
The Tennessee Supreme Court Could Decide the Fate of Nashville's Home Recording Studios
The city's restrictions threaten one of the world's most vibrant music scenes.
Leave Goat Yoga Alone!
"We can't even do the things we want to on our own property that aren't even hurting anyone."
AOC Is a Fake YIMBY
The New York congresswoman has endorsed much-needed zoning reform, but also raised typical NIMBY complaints about projects in her own backyard.
Zoning Officials Stop Church From Opening 40-Bed Shelter in Sub-Zero Temperatures
Gloversville's Free Methodist Church has 40 beds ready and waiting at its downtown shelter. City officials say the zoning code doesn't allow people to sleep in them.
