Housing
Are Rent-to-Own Homes Predatory?
On the promise of ownership, rent-to-own landlords make tenants pay for repairs. And on the lower end, homes often come with code violations built in. This market's legal grey spaces distinctly echo 2008.
Brooklyn Housing Supply Begins to Match Demand
About 6,500 apartments in 19 towers within 10 square blocks on Flatbush Avenue are expected to be available within two years, but don't expect rents to plunge. Renters should look for perks like one or more months of free rent.
Dual Moratoriums Push Back on Infill Density in Denver
The Denver City Council approved two separate moratoriums on building types that are adding infill density to neighborhoods in the city.
L.A. City Council Chooses Legal Limbo for Accessory Dwelling Units
Faced with the task of conforming its "granny flats" ordinance with state law, the Los Angeles City Council yielded.
Surveillance Tech: A New Weapon for Gentrification
Discrimination has always been a threat as landlords consider new tenants, but now there's new technology to potentially exacerbate the problem.
Affordable Housing and the 2016 Election
The cost of housing affects millions across the country, but the issue has been conspicuously absent in the campaigns. Hillary Clinton's plan includes an imprecise remedy, while Donald Trump's pronouncements have been vaguer still.
The Danger of Buying By the Sea
Zillow has released research on how many of the nation's homes may be underwater (literally) by the year 2100. Florida, Hawaii, New Jersey, and Louisiana are at the highest risk.
Earned Income Should Not Replace Public Funding for Community Development
Our plan was to seek out community-based organizations trying to back away from developer fees, pursuing recent implications that smaller organizations should consider leaving development work to more efficient, larger ones. We found none.
Sacramento Rising: Mayor-Elect Darrell Steinberg's Vision for Sustainable Communities
Mayor-Elect Steinberg enters City Hall as a leader with a unique opportunity to enact sustainable infill policies he championed in the California Legislature.
Los Angeles' Neighborhood Integrity Initiative Presents Demands to City Leaders
Last week, leaders of the initiative to curb development in L.A. surprisingly presented Mayor Eric Garcetti with an ultimatum: Agree to their list of demands by August 24, or they will take the issue to the March 2017 ballot.
East Los Angeles Community Groups Prove that Community Planning Matters
The landscape of community development in Los Angeles today differs vastly from even a few years ago. Two groups in East L.A. are developing solutions to accelerating gentrification and displacement and a compounding affordable housing crisis.
California's $400 Million for By-Right Affordable Housing Dies in the Legislature
An affordable housing proposal proposed by Gov. Jerry Brown failed to marshal the necessary support in the State Legislature, facing opposition from a coalition of labor and environmental groups, as well as the League of California Cities.
Op-Ed: Stay Expensive, New York—It Helps the Rest of the U.S.
Here's a controversial assertion: expensive, desirable cities are doing everyone else a favor by forcing people to move.
The Silicon Valley Adds Another Single-Story Overlay District
The footprint of the so-called single-story overlay districts is growing in the Silicon Valley.
Vancouver Start-Up Wants You to Bid On Your Rent
The founders of Vancouver-based Biddwell are hoping to change the way landlords and potential tenants find each other, but a renters' advocacy body sees the new company as bad news for tenants in an increasingly tight housing market.
Suburban Woes Follow After Companies Depart for Cities
It's not bad enough that the Northeast is losing population to the South and West. As companies decamp from the suburbs, pristine communities, many where apartments are outlawed, are seeing a steady decline in housing values.
Homelessness Is Falling Despite Worsening Conditions. Why?
In 2015, compared to 2009, the nation had more people and lower incomes, but higher rents. All things being equal, the number of people who are homeless should have gone up. But it did not. It went down. What changed, and what's next?
Carless Renters Still Get Stuck With a $440 Million Bill
A new study provides evidence of how the incredibly high costs of parking get spread around—even to people who don't have cars.
As Affordability Worsens, State and Local Governments Act on their Own
New data points to the continued worsening of rental housing affordability. Due to a lack of federal response, some state and municipal governments are taking matters into their own hands in an attempt to add to their supply of affordable housing.
Planetizen Week in Review: August 20, 2016
Climate change dominated the news this week, as flooding wreaked unfathomable havoc on the state of Louisiana.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Heyer Gruel & Associates PA
JM Goldson LLC
Custer County Colorado
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Claremont
Municipality of Princeton (NJ)
