Zoning
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?
Judge Rules Businesswoman Must Remove Dresses From Her Home
Fairfax County, Virginia, allows home businesses but prohibits them from keeping inventory on site.
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.
SimCity Created a Generation of Urban Planners
Three decades later, is it time for the city simulation game to get political?
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.
'Jane Jacobs Goals Through Robert Moses Tactics'
Community planners don't have all the answers.
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.
City Says Man's Giant, Semi-Ironic 'Trump 2020' Sign Is a Code Violation
A massive 15 foot tall Trump/Pence yard sign has unfortunately turned political.
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.
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.
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.
San Francisco Ballot Measure Would Tax Empty Storefronts in Attempt to Boost Retail Sector
The initiative would leave untouched all the city regulations that've made it so hard to start a business in the first place.
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.
Despite Stiff NIMBY Opposition, San Francisco Business Owner Will Be Allowed to Convert Arcade Repair Business Into Normal Arcade
The struggles Joey Mucha had to go through to secure a simple change of use permit highlight the problems inherent in San Francisco's planning process.
San Francisco Activists Are Trying to Stop Business Owner From Converting His Arcade Repair Shop Into a Normal Arcade
Neighbors say Joey Mucha's plans for a Skee-Ball arcade in the Mission would be a positive addition to the community. Activists disagree.
Republicans and Democrats Rev Up Spin Machine for Start of Public Impeachment Hearings
Plus: the effects of restrictive zoning on education access, DACA's uncertain future at the Supreme Court, and Mayor Pete's miraculous surge
Bernie Sanders Blames Apple for Silicon Valley's Government-Created Housing Crisis
Development restrictions and NIMBYism, not tech sector success, explain Silicon Valley's housing costs.
California NIMBYs Sue To Stop In-N-Out Burger From Coming to Their Town
Opponents use a notorious environmental review law to keep a famed fast food restaurant out of Rancho Mirage.
Falafel Shop Wins Narrow Victory Over San Francisco's Bizarre, Broken Permitting Process
By one vote, the city's planning commission denied a business's request to stop a competing falafel shop from opening up down the block.
Audit Finds Cost of Building Supportive Housing in L.A. Exceeds Median Price of a Market-Rate Condo
Los Angeles is spending $600,000 per unit on building affordable and supportive housing for homeless residents.
When Mandating Affordable Housing Makes Housing Less Affordable
A new study of inclusionary zoning policies in the D.C. and Baltimore metro areas finds that the policy ends up raising rents.
Tennessee Court Says Music City Can Keep Cracking Down on Home Recording Studios
A Davidson County judge ruled Tuesday that Nashville's ban on home businesses servicing clients on site is constitutional.
New Bill Would Tie Federal Transit Funding to Local Zoning Reforms
Local governments that remove development restrictions near transit would have a better chance of scoring federal transit funding grants.
Andrew Yang Hates Zoning Laws
The long shot presidential candidate wants booming cities to get rid of their restrictions on new development.
A Mural Quoting Trump at His Most Profane Is Protected Speech, Judge Rules
New Orleans can't use zoning regulations to decide what counts as artistic expression.
After 6-Year Fight, Florida Couple Wins Right to Grow Veggies at Home
Local governments can't outlaw home vegetable gardens under a new Florida law.
Oregon Becomes First State to Ditch Single-Family Zoning
State lawmakers end the legislative sessions by passing a bill that will allow for denser housing construction across the state.
Is America Finally Waking Up to Its Government-Created Housing Crisis?
Mainstream media is starting to embrace the idea of deregulating housing construction. Will policymakers?
New York City Landmarks Historic Bookstore The Strand Over Owner's Objections
"They want to put a bureaucratic noose around me," says Nancy Bass Wyden, third-generation owner of New York's best bookstore. "We're just asking to be left alone."
Foot-Voting Nation
The seventh post in the Volokh Conspiracy symposium on "Our American Story: The Search for a Shared National Narrative" (ed. by Joshua Claybourn).
Seattle Doesn't Want You To Have A Big House
Proposed legislation aims to crack down on "McMansions."
Are Democrats an Anti-Immigrant Party Too?
Recent articles by Tyler Cowen and Farhad Manjoo highlight anti-immigrant effects of many Democrats' policies on zoning and other issues. The party is not quite as bad as the Republicans. But that's damning with faint praise.
'Music City' Doesn't Want You Making Music at Home
A Nashville producer challenges the city's crazy ban on commercial home recording studios.
Squawking NIMBYs Fail To Doom Halal Chicken Slaughterhouse
The Alexandria City Council voted to approve the butchery's special-use permit.
Seattle City Council Overcomes NIMBY Opposition To Pass Big Upzoning Bill
The legislation is far from perfect, but does move the city in the right direction.
The Zoning Code Banned His Tall Fence, but Not the Naked Mannequin Party Behind It
California man highlights the absurdity of dumb regulations.
NIMBY Local Government Sues Owner of Flintstones Replica House Over Dinosaurs and Giant 'Yabba Dabba Doo' Sign
The town of Hillsborough, CA has deemed a sign bearing the cartoon character's famous catchphrase an "eyesore" and "public nuisance."
A Tattooed Libertarian on the Arizona Supreme Court: Clint Bolick's Long Fight for Freedom
Q&A with the co-founder of Institute for Justice about immigration, his legal philosophy, his battles with Sheriff Joe Arpaio, and that tattoo.
Support Grows for Bill That Would Legalize More Home Construction Across California
A new poll shows 74 percent of San Francisco residents are in favor of a state bill that would peel back local restrictions on housing.
