The American Housing and Economic Mobility Act probably has no chance of passing into law, but it's still the most substantial gesture toward housing policy by a member of Congress since the subprime crisis of 2008.

Madeleine Carlisle describes a bill released today by Senator Elizabeth Warren (D - Massachusetts) as "perhaps the most far-reaching assault on housing segregation since the 1968 Fair Housing Act."
The American Housing and Economic Mobility Act, as the bill is titled, would the estate tax to generate revenue for a $500 billion to be spent on affordable-housing programs over ten years. The bill also "attempts to strip away the zoning laws that made developing housing so expensive in the first place," according to Carlisle.
Much of Carlisle's coverage places the bill in context of Senator Warren's hypothetical presidential ambitions. "The sheer scale of the bill, along with its focus on structural racism and government responsibility, places Warren’s brand of populist progressivism on full display," writes Carlisle. "An undertaking of this magnitude is sure to energize her base. But would its combination of tax increases, grants to homeowners, government incentives, and bank regulation make housing more affordable to working- and middle-class people?"
FULL STORY: Elizabeth Warren’s Ambitious Fix for America’s Housing Crisis

Maui's Vacation Rental Debate Turns Ugly
Verbal attacks, misinformation campaigns and fistfights plague a high-stakes debate to convert thousands of vacation rentals into long-term housing.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

San Francisco Suspends Traffic Calming Amidst Record Deaths
Citing “a challenging fiscal landscape,” the city will cease the program on the heels of 42 traffic deaths, including 24 pedestrians.

Adaptive Reuse Will Create Housing in a Suburban Texas Strip Mall
A developer is reimagining a strip mall property as a mixed-use complex with housing and retail.

Study: Anti-Homelessness Laws Don’t Work
Research shows that punitive measures that criminalized unhoused people don’t help reduce homelessness.

In U.S., Urban Gondolas Face Uphill Battle
Cities in Latin America and Europe have embraced aerial transitways — AKA gondolas — as sustainable, convenient urban transport, especially in tricky geographies. American cities have yet to catch up.
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