Housing

What Is Missing Middle Housing?
One of the newest terms in the world of urban planning, Missing Middle Housing has generated a lot of attention in recent years as cities around the United States look for ways to create more housing options in a vast sea of single-family homes.

Landlords in L.A. Attempt to Illegally Remove Tenants Who Can't Pay Rent
Some landlords in the Los Angles area aren't adhering to eviction moratoriums. In the midst of enormous financial strain, they are employing illegal tactics to forcibly remove tenants.

Watch: How Soviet Planners Created a Different Kind of City
The latest video from City Beautiful looks at the legacy of planning from the Soviet Union.

The Eviction Crisis Is Already Here
Without rent relief from Congress, the recent wave of evictions could become a tsunami, according to housing advocates.

More Housing Could Increase Affordability If You Build It in the Right Places
Focusing on zoning in hot-market urban centers misses economic realities—and major opportunities.

How to Treat Housing as a Human Right
SPUR's housing report, "What Will it Really Take to Create an Affordable Bay Area," found that it will take 2.2 million units in the next 50 years to avoid worsening housing inequality.

Anti-Racism at the Neighborhood Level
Communities across the country need to dismantle exclusionary barriers and rebalance spending to invest more equitably across neighborhoods, according to this article by the Urban Institute.
Dallas Development Proposal Would Include Tiny Homes, Workforce Training, and More
A case study of Dallas development and planning politics.

The 30-Year Mortgage Faces an Unprecedented Threat: Climate Change
The climate crisis will present more of an existential crisis to the traditional U.S. mortgage market than any previous financial crisis, according to some of the experts cited in the article.

Black Americans Facing Eviction on a Massive Scale
Many Americans won't be able to pay the rent in July. Black people are more likely to rent and will bear the brunt of a wave of evictions.

The Case for Letting Developers Pay Not to Build
Inclusionary zoning requires new developments to include affordable units, but many cities allow developers to bypass this by paying an off-site fee. Is the fee-out option getting unfairly demonized?

Sun Belt Cities Need a New Approach to Urbanism
The unique growth and challenges facing large cities in the U.S. Sun Belt will require a break from the kinds of policies generated to serve Northeastern and Midwestern cities over the course of U.S. history.

Planning Beyond Mass Incarceration
Sheryl-Ann Simpson from Carleton University, Justin Steil from MIT, and Aditi Mehta from the University of Toronto write about a recent article they co-authored in the Journal of Planning Education and Research.

Federal Eviction and Foreclosure Moratorium Extended Until the End of August
Breaking news: a federal moratorium on evictions and foreclosures of single-family mortgages backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be extended until at least the end of August. The moratorium had been set to expire at the end of June.

Community Park Addresses Open Space, Air Quality Disparities in L.A.
Lou Calanche and Esther Feldman discuss the Natural Park at Ramona Gardens, a green solution project to improve air quality and community health in one of the most polluted neighborhoods in Los Angeles.

Report: $15.5 Billion Per Month Needed for Housing Market Relief
A new report from researchers at the Urban Institute makes the case for federal and state relief for renters and property owners hurt by the economic realities of the coronavirus pandemic.

Demand for City Living Hasn't Declined Yet, According to Real Estate Searches
Media is full of stories about people fleeing the city for suburban or even rural climes during the pandemic. The data from real estate search sites tell a different story.

Ithaca Approves Historic #CancelRent Legislation
Ithaca, New York is the first city in the nation to go through with a plan to cancel rent, giving three-quarters of the residents in the city a needed safety net as the coronavirus pandemic and resulting economic crisis persists into the summer.

The Great Retrofit: Transforming Tysons With Walkable Residential Development
A 2010 comprehensive plan set a goal to add 100,000 residential units with walkable access to public transit to this unincorporated corner of Fairfax County in Northern Virginia.

Another Way to Achieve Racial Justice: Zoning Reform
An opinion piece calls out suburban communities for perpetuating structural inequality and housing discrimination. Recently converted social justice advocates should focus their zeal on zoning reform, according to the argument that follows.
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