Planetizen Newswire
Keep up with essential planning news and commentary, delivered to your inbox every Monday and Thursday.
Housing
The Land Use subcommittee of the Virginia House of Delegates decided quickly to uphold local control of zoning.
WAMU
After a San Mateo County Superior Court judge ruled that charter cities are exempt from the Housing Accountability Act, aka the anti-NIMBY law, the state stepped in to support the appellant, a YIMBY group that launched a "Sue the Suburbs" campaign.
San Francisco Chronicle
The high costs of housing development do not fit a convenient narrative, according to new analysis by Jenny Schuetz from the Brookings Institution.
Brookings
Washington State is the latest example of a state that wants to preempt local planning law to make it easier to add housing units to single-family residential properties all over the states.
Sightline Institute
Real estate and investment experts see more and more urban parking lots as attractive locations for redevelopment—usually for multi-family residential buildings.
The Investor
A recently published white paper written by the Seattle Planning Commission calls on the city to follow in the footsteps of the city of Minneapolis and the state of Oregon.
The Urbanist
The $6 billion redevelopment project at the Concord Naval Weapons Station has stalled over labor issues.
San Francisco Chronicle
More people are moving to suburban counties, but a lack of affordable housing in places such as Loudon County, Virginia, means the suburbs are not an option for a growing number of people.
Greater Greater Washington
Housing deregulation for the sake of housing affordability made progress in both Democratic- and Republican-led states last year.
City Journal
Blog post
Some urbanism commentators suggest that gentrification is the result of a "rent gap" between actual and potential rent. How should this theory affect zoning policy?
Proposition E, a ballot initiative up for vote in San Francisco in May, is one of the most radical planning positions in recent years, attempting to reduce housing costs by limiting housing demand.
Mission Local
Denver and Los Angeles kicked the new year off by committing to the enforcement of a sleeping ban and sweeping away a large homeless encampment, respectively.
The Denver Post
We shouldn’t have to scale down the idea of basic economic security to fit inside the dimensions of a tiny house. But that’s precisely what we’re doing.
Shelterforce Magazine
When housing costs are high, lower-income residents are not the only ones who end up struggling.
WAMU
In Washington, D.C., Airbnb has led to an increase in home prices, and the impact is more significant in neighborhoods with a higher density of short-term rental units.
Urban Turf
Although a development near downtown Louisville, Kentucky, is moving forward, not everyone agrees it is the best use of the parcel and the right project for the city.
The New York Times
Real estate advisors RLCO released their end-of-the-year sales report for master-planned communities, completing a year of strong sales growth.
RCLCO
The ranks of states considering or taking steps to override local control to allow new density in the residential neighborhoods of cities has swelled once again, this time with a state senator in Nebraska pitching statewide legislation.
1011 Now
Environmental review required by the California Environmental Quality Act would no longer apply to the construction of homeless shelters under a law proposed in the California State Legislature.
The Sacramento Bee
The Trump administration last week published its latest attempt to undermine a fair housing rule adopted during the Obama administration.
Curbed
