Housing

Accessory Dwelling Units

'Permit Ready Plans' for ADUs Published in Stockton, California

Cities looking to provide incentive for the construction of accessory dwelling units are increasingly released "permit ready plans" to help the cause.

October 12, 2020 - City of Stockton

Coronavirus Protest

Do We Know Any More About the Future of Cities Than We Did in April 2020?

The conversation about how the pandemic might alter the direction of planning and urbanism, unlike the spread of the coronavirus, has remained steady since March.

October 12, 2020 - James Brasuell

California

How Engagement and Design Won Over Wary Neighbors

Despite opposition from the neighborhood, a low-income housing community was built in an upscale subdivision in California. How did developers make it happen?

October 9, 2020 - Shelterforce

Two friends sit and talk at a social distance in Fletcher Moss park, Manchester, UK

Planning Age-Friendly Cities

Manchester researchers are part of a network of European cities collaborating on strategies to support the aging population in cities worldwide.

October 9, 2020 - City Monitor

North Carolina Flooding

Flood Risk Upends the North Carolina Housing Market

Inequalities in the housing market of coastal North Carolina communities have already been exacerbated by the effects of extreme weather and climate change.

October 9, 2020 - NRDC

Urban Sprawl

Questions in Calculating California's Housing Needs

As California moves to hold local governments accountable for housing production goals, a report finds a 900,000-unit discrepancy. Offered here is the Embarcadero Institute's response to criticism received regarding the report's conclusions.

October 7, 2020 - The Planning Report

San Francisco Bay Area

On the Ballot in Alameda: The End of Single-Family Zoning

Voters in Alameda, a city of nearly 80,000 people on an island in the East San Francisco Bay Area, will vote to end a prohibition on multi-family housing that has been in place since 1973.

October 6, 2020 - Alameda Sun

Chicago, Illinois

A Pro-Development Approach to Housing Affordability and Economic Growth

Decades of building housing on the fringes of metropolitan areas have mired the United States in a housing affordability crisis defined by a widening gap between the haves and the have nots.

October 6, 2020 - Vox

Stahl House Los Angeles

Can L.A. Accomplish Affordability with 'Housing Plus, Plus, Plus'?

Alfred Fraijo Jr., partner at Sheppard Mullin, shares frustration with what he sees as a state inaction on housing and L.A.'s legacy of piecemeal planning and outdated zoning.

October 5, 2020 - The Planning Report

Homelessness

Vacant Properties Occupied by Homeless Families Turned Over to Community Land Trust

A major victory in the fight for housing justice has been achieved in Philadelphia.

October 5, 2020 - Philadelphia Housing Action

Coronavirus

Overdue Rent Could Equal $34 Billion by January 2021

As Americans deal with job losses and ongoing unemployment, rent bills are piling up and a wave of evictions looms on the horizon.

October 4, 2020 - Route Fifty

For Rent

Rents Dropping Across the U.S., but Especially in Big, Wealthy Cities

People are moving less and rents are dropping, according to a new report from Apartment List.

October 2, 2020 - Apartment List

HUD

HUD Rule Change Allows Landlords to Use Screening Services Despite Discrimination Concerns

A revised U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development rule makes it more difficult to submit claims of housing discrimination when a landlord's decisions is influenced by a third-party tenant screening service.

October 1, 2020 - The Markup

Connecticut

Lawyers Taking the Single-Family Zoning Fight to a Connecticut Town

Open Communities Alliance, along with law students and professors at a fair housing development clinic at Yale Law School, have proposed a development meant to trigger the exclusionary zoning code in the town of Woodbridge, Connecticut.

October 1, 2020 - The Connecticut Mirror

Apartment Construction

Rent Control Debated in the Nation's Capital

District council members and local tenant advocates are engaged in a bit of tug of war about how far the District should go to limit the amount landlords can raise rents.

September 30, 2020 - DCist

Wall Street

Lessons from the Last Housing Crisis: How to Get Control of Properties

How to keep affordable apartments and single-family homes out of the hands of institutional investors if the coronavirus pandemic leads to a giant wave of evictions and foreclosures.

September 29, 2020 - Shelterforce Magazine

Park Slope, Brooklyn

As Vacancy Rates Climb in New York's Rental Market, Landlords Blame New Rent Control Law

Vacancy rates in New York City have climbed to unexpected heights in 2020, and landlords aren't pinning all the blame on a pandemic-induced urban exodus.

September 29, 2020 - The Real Deal

Bank Owned

Wall Street Wagering on a Permanent Suburban Renter Class

Expectations that the economic downturn of the COVID-19 pandemic will create a wave of homeowners leaving the market, whether by choice or necessity, are driving big acquisitions by private equity firms and Wall Street investors.

September 28, 2020 - The Wall Street Journal

Oahu

Affordable Housing Project Fails From Community Opposition in Honolulu

The final demise of a closely watched, controversial affordable housing project was reported this week in Honolulu.

September 25, 2020 - KITV4

Brooklyn, New York City

Rezoning a Wealthy Neighborhood in the Name of Equity

An opinion piece makes the case that a rezoning proposal for the Brooklyn neighborhood of Gowanus has a higher potential for new affordable housing and lower risk of displacement compared to other rezoning plans in the city.

September 24, 2020 - City Limits

FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?

After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.

Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold

The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.

Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

Top Schools

The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

100 Most Influential Urbanists

The who's who of urbanism, according to Planetizen readers.

Urban Planning Creators You Should Know

A short list of voices on social, video, and podcasting platforms.