Rent Control Delayed but Not Dead in California
Plus: Arkansas legalizes ADUs, activists sue to stop missing middle housing, and Trump's housing plans for federal lands
Back to Basics
Plus: California zoning bill survives powerful lawmaker's economic illiteracy, Montana legislators pass simple, sweeping, supply-side housing reforms, and Washington passes rent control.
California Housing Bills Face Crucial Hearing Today
Bills designed to allow more starter homes and apartments near transit face an uncertain future in the state Senate's housing committee.
Hawaii County Tells Homeowner His 38-Year-Old House Is Actually Illegal
Shahzaad Ausman has had to sue the county to confirm that he can continue to live in his own home.
Slow and Steady
Despite politicians touting progress, Los Angeles has only issued three permits for wildfire rebuilds and debris removal is expected to drag on for many months.
Oh, Canada
Prime Minister Mark Carney's plan to create a federal housing developer is a terrible idea.
Judge Orders Rhode Island Town To Return Secretly Seized Land to Affordable Housing Developer
Plus: the federal government tries to stiff landlords over eviction moratorium one last time, the Supreme Court declines to take up eminent domain case, and starter home bills advance in Arizona and Texas.
Town Secretly Seizes Developers' Property Then Threatens Them With Trespassing Citation
The owners, who were planning an affordable housing project on the site, first learned about the seizure from the mayor's social media post.
J.D. Vance Blames Zoning, Immigrants for High Housing Costs
Plus: Texas and Minnesota consider an aggressive suite of housing supply bills, while San Diego tries to ratchet up regulations on ADUs.
The 'Montana Miracle' Vindicated in Court
On Monday, a Montana judge roundly rejected homeowners' legal challenge to new laws allowing duplexes and accessory dwelling units in single-family areas.
Fresh Starts on Starter Homes
Lawmakers in Arizona and California are attempting to overcome local resistance to meaningful starter home reforms.
Bad To Worse
From insurance to affordable housing mandates, California's regulatory noose tightens over wildfire rebuilding efforts.
Why Are We Fighting?
When regulations limit what kind of housing can be built, the result is endless arguments about what people really want.
Town Uses Eminent Domain To Stop Private Affordable Housing Project
Johnston, Rhode Island, Mayor Joseph Polisena promised to "use all the power of government" to stop the privately financed 252-unit project.
Missing Middle, What Is It Good For?
Allowing duplexes and triplexes in single-family neighborhoods doesn't increase housing supply much. But it does give people more choices.
In Session
Lawmakers across the country introduce bills to strengthen private property rights, crackdown on out-of-control regulators, and get the government out of micromanaging stairways.
The L.A. Fires Are a Natural Disaster, Not a Policy Disaster
The Golden State has many bad policies in desperate need of reform. It's not obvious they had more than a marginal effect on the still-burning fires in Los Angeles.
Why Building a Lot of 'Affordable' Housing Is Bad News for Affordability
Cities become affordable when lots of new housing is built, not when a larger percentage of a small amount of new housing is made "affordable" by regulation.
Unprecedented Rise in Homelessness
The latest federal homelessness survey finds an 18 percent annual rise in the number of people living without permanent shelter.
Housing Policy 2024: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Cities and states are passing lots of productive reforms, local courts are increasingly striking them down, and local governments continue their harassment of homeless shelters.
North Carolina Passes Sweeping Surprise Ban on 'Downzoning'
To the bewilderment of many, North Carolina's hurricane relief bill includes the nation's strongest property rights protections against new zoning restrictions.
Pastor Criminally Charged With Zoning Violations Gets His Day in Court
Plus: New York City moves forward on zoning reforms, Utah city moves backward on granny flats, and D.C. considers a ban on landlords' pit bull bans.
Tribal Sovereignty Saves a Homeless Shelter (For Now)
The Yakama Nation has won a temporary restraining order preventing the City of Toppenish, Washington, from closing its new cold weather shelter.
Big City, Little Reforms
The final version of New York's "City of Yes" reforms makes modest liberalizing changes to the city's zoning code.
Will Doug Burgum Be Donald Trump's Housing Czar?
Plus: Democrats' housing-lite postelection recriminations and yet another ballot box defeat for pro–rent control forces in California.
California Voters Opt for Orderly Urbanism on Election Day
Golden State voters decisively rejected progressive approaches to crime and housing.
The Housing Election That Won't Fix the Housing Crisis
Victory in the fight for cheaper housing, a more liberal land-use regime, and greater property rights won't come from the White House.
The Year's Most Important Housing Vote
Proposition 33 would repeal all of California's state-level limits on rent control. It's passage could prove to be a disaster for housing supply in the Golden State.
Elon Musk Versus the California Coastal Commission
The state's powerful coastal land-use regulator is arguing its awesome development-stopping powers applies to rocket launches as well as housing.
No Place To Go
Despite homelessness being on the rise, local governments keep cracking down on efforts to shelter those without permanent housing.
D.C.'s COVID-Era Eviction Policies Come Back To Bite
Plus: Massachusetts NIMBYs get their day in court, Pittsburgh one-step forward, two-steps back approach to zoning reform, and a surprisingly housing-heavy VP debate.
America's Trial Courts Have a NIMBY Problem
Plus: the transformation of California's builder's remedy, the zoning reform implications of the Eric Adams indictment, and why the military killed starter home reform in Arizona.
California County Fines Man $120,000 for Refusing to Evict a Family From His Property
Plus, a look at Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Tina Smith's plan to resurrect public housing in America.
Tim Scott Wants to Deregulate Manufactured Housing
Plus: An alleged slumlord gets a "tenant empowerment" grant, Seattle's affordable housing mandates lead to less housing, D.C.'s affordable housing crisis.
The First Amendment Right To 'Greenmail' Developers
Plus: The Montana Supreme Court rescues zoning reform, and a new challenge to inclusionary zoning.
Are You Living in San Diego's 'Worst ADU'?
Plus: The feds come for RealPage, a YIMBY caucus comes to Congress, and tiny Rhode Island enacts a big slate of housing reforms.
YIMBYs' Premature Victory Dance at the DNC
Kamala Harris' promise to end the housing shortage and adopt rent control shows that YIMBY ideas are just one of several competing housing policy agendas within the Democratic Party.
Code Games
Plus: An appeals court sides with property owners seeking compensation for the CDC's eviction ban, a Michigan court backs the would-be builders of a "green cemetery," and Kamala Harris' spotty supply-side credentials.
The Housing Theory of Childless Cat Ladies
Would a YIMBY building boom rejuvenate urban family life or produce sterile, megacity hellscapes?
No Muslims In My Backyard?
Plus: Kamala Harris doubles down on rent control, Gavin Newsom issues a new executive order on housing, and the natural tendency to keep adding more regulation.
California Forever, Forever
The company needs a lot of government permission slips to build its planned new city in the Bay Area. It's now changing the order in which it asks for them.
Coconut Trees, Price Controls, and Demand Subsidies
Plus: Gainesville shrinks minimum lot sizes, a Colorado church can keep providing shelter to the homeless, and Berkeley considers allowing small apartments everywhere.
Joe Biden Loves Rent Control, J.D. Vance Hates BlackRock
Republicans and Democrats have both managed to get worse on housing policy in the past week.
Biden vs. Trump: Housing Policy Edition
How do the two major party candidates stack up on housing policy?
Gorsuch Apes NIMBY Government Lies in Supreme Court's Grants Pass Decision
Plus: A disappointing first round of "Baby YIMBY" grant awards, President Joe Biden endorses rent control, and House Republicans propose cutting housing spending.
RealPage Conspiracy Theories
The media, state attorneys general, and the Biden administration are blaming rent-recommendation software for rising rents. Normal stories of supply and demand are the more reasonable explanation.
NIMBY Towns, Fake Parks, and Eminent Domain
Plus: unpermitted ADUs in San Jose, Sen. J.D. Vance's mass deportation plan for housing affordability, and the California Coastal Commission's anti-housing record.
Will This Bill Save or Scuttle California's Builder's Remedy?
Plus: Sen. John Fetterman introduces a new zoning reform bill, U.C. Berkeley finally beats the NIMBYs in court, and Austin's unwise "equity overlay."
