There are a lot of financial, and legal, reasons to get the rethink the city of Portland's approach to affordable housing funding.
"The Portland Housing Bureau is preparing to hit the reset button on its 2016 affordable housing bond after voters gave cities more flexibility to spend bond dollars," reports Elliot Njus.
Measure 102, a constitutional amendment approved by voters this November, allows local governments to put money toward the private development of affordable housing, a change which also changed the legal calculus of the city's responsibilities to meet affordable housing goals.
The city's responsibilities have also changed, after voters in Multnomah, Washington, and Clackamas counties around Portland also approved Ballot Measure 26-199, which authorized $652.8 million in bond funding. That bond funding comes with new strings attached, namely "to create 1,300 homes, half of them with two or more bedrooms for families and 600 within reach for households making less than 60 percent of the area median income."
FULL STORY: Portland weighs new strategy for 2016 housing bond
New Washington State Law Lets Cities Give Social Housing Developers City-owned Land
In its current form, HB 1687, which authorizes local governments to assist social housing agencies with land or other resources, only applies to Seattle.
New York Residents Support Affordable Housing, Survey Says
Contrary to the dominant narrative about the negative perceptions of affordable housing projects among the public, a recent survey reveals widespread support for affordable housing in the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut metropolitan region.
Another Approach to Affordable Housing
A new approach to affordable housing attempts to overcome the traditional approaches of supply-side economics and government-funded investments and extractions.
The state-sanctioned urbicide of Austin
People don’t kill cities. Freeways do.
US to reduce Colorado River water deliveries to Mexico
A new Colorado Treaty amendment reduces Mexico’s Colorado River water allocation by 250,000 acre feet.
New Jersey’s second-largest city bans standalone data centers
Jersey City will continue to allow co-location facilities, such as those meant for research institutions that store their own data.
Amtrak not solely to blame for New Jersey commuter rail's unreliability, report finds
A new study from the Garden State Initiative found that NJ Transit’s budget grew 20% across a 4 year period, but reliability declined significantly over the same period.
EPA erases limits on planet-warming pollution from power plants
Under Monday’s plan, power plants would still have some limits on how much mercury, arsenic and other contaminants they can emit.
Phoenix announces new on-demand transit service, more frequent RAPID buses
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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.
Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Nashville Planning Department
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association