Housing

Impacts of Northern Megaprojects Swamp Alberta's Housing Industry

While housing demand in the rest of Canada cools, Alberta homebuilders can't keep up with demand, and are literally turning homebuyers away because of shortages of materials and labour.

January 13, 2006 - The Globe and Mail

Hybrid Houses

This could be the year that skyrocketing heating prices, plus incentives, really push efficient homes.

January 12, 2006 - The Christian Science Monitor

New Orleans Houses Will Not Be Demolished For Two Weeks

The city has agreed to wait for a court verdict on whether the city can raze houses without homeowner permission.

January 10, 2006 - The New York Times

Homeowners Remove Middle Man

A new website streamlines the home buying process, threatening realtors and their 6% commission.

January 10, 2006 - The New York Times

A Loophole The Size Of A Few Hundred Houses

Loudoun County, Virginia, developers have little time to get approval for hundreds of new homes before a revised zoning ordinance is passed.

January 10, 2006 - The Washington Post

Families Leaving Suburbia For The City

For some New York families the move from the city to the suburbs is not all that it is cracked up to be.

January 9, 2006 - The New York Times

What Happens When A Housing Bubble Bursts

Want to see what follows a housing bubble? Look to China's largest city, Shanghai.

January 8, 2006 - The Los Angeles Times

Can Boston's Housing Affordability Crisis Be Fixed?

The Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research summarizes a recent study by Harvard University economist Edward L. Glaeser that charges that zoning is major cause of the crisis in Massachusetts' housing affordability.

January 8, 2006 - The Boston Globe

'Cheap Mortgages' Start To Come Due

Homeowners who gambled on risky mortgage products could find themselves paying hundreds of dollars more per month in the coming year as these products are reset to real-world interest rates.

January 6, 2006 - Herald-Tribune

Treasure Valley Home Sales Set Record

Idaho's Treasure Valley single-family home sales and dollar value break records.

January 6, 2006 - The Idaho Statesman

Prefab Housing For The Masses

Prefabricated housing used to be a dirty word in the housing business. Today, many designer prefab houses are an affordable and elegant solution -- maybe even the "holy grail of modernism".

January 5, 2006 - Wired Magazine

Millions Of Americans Will Face Bankruptcy When The Housing Bubble Bursts

Federally-sanctioned distortions in the housing market are leading the American economy over a cliff, writes Bob Chapman.

January 5, 2006 - From the Wilderness

Renovated Beyond Middle Class Means

In Hastings-On-Hudson, NY, one house's history follows the price bubble's rise.

January 4, 2006 - The New York Times

World Trade Center Redevelopment to Have Residential Component

With a decisive win in his re-election, Mayor Bloomberg spoke to his priorities for his final term as chief of the the US's largest city in his second inaugural address on New Year's Day: Affordable housing and the World Trade Center.

January 3, 2006 - The New York Times

Curbing Inner City 'Condofication'

An editorial outlines ideas for dampening effects of California's Ellis Act, which allows landlords to "go out of business" and evict tenants, possibly in order to sell buildings for condo conversion.

January 1, 2006 - The San Francisco Bay Guardian

Hispanics Need Not Reside

Manassas, Virginia, is using a zoning ordinance to redefine family, in an attempt to curb possible consequences of illegal immigration.

December 31, 2005 - The Washington Post

Free Rent Comes At A Price

In Washington, D.C., some apartment tenants are living without a landlord -- and without a high standard of living.

December 29, 2005 - Washington City Paper

The De-Facto Privatization Of Local Government?

The dramatic increase in homeowners' associations has some worrying about the implications for local governance.

December 27, 2005 - The Baltimore Sun

Tsunami Priority: Homes

One year later, most survivors still do not have permanent shelter. Yet many have income again.

December 27, 2005 - The Christian Science Monitor

Affordable Housing Controversy in New York City.

What is the appropriate level of subsidization that affordable housing developers should receive? The article also describes New York City's unique inclusionary housing benefits.

December 27, 2005 - The New York Times

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

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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.