To fix the housing crisis, cities should focus on "missing middle housing" and multi-family development.

Jake Bullinger, in a piece for In These Times, assesses some of the upzoning programs being implemented by many cities in the American West as they struggle to get a handle on the growing housing affordability crisis.
The "regulatory and economic cocktail" that leads developers to "go big and expensive" and prevents multi-unit development near major job centers, writes Bullinger, has led to huge imbalances in housing availability and cost. "In some areas of California, for instance, new jobs have outnumbered new homes 12 to 1." Restrictive single-family zoning policies, the kind that cities across the country are currently reevaluating, have stifled new housing construction and deepened the crisis by preventing mid- and high-density development in some of the most resource-rich parts of cities.
"In an efficient market, developers would build apartments where land is expensive and rent is high — the developer gets more revenue-generating units per parcel, and renters get the option of smaller, less-expensive housing. But that hasn’t been the case in California: nine of the state’s 12 most expensive cities permitted zero multifamily units between 2013 and 2017." With the need for more housing options growing every day, says Bullinger, "a corner-lot fourplex on every block could go a long way."
FULL STORY: Towns Across the West Face a Housing Crisis. More Sprawl Is Not the Answer.

Rethinking Redlining
For decades we have blamed 100-year-old maps for the patterns of spatial racial inequity that persist in American cities today. An esteemed researcher says: we’ve got it all wrong.

Montreal Mall to Become 6,000 Housing Units
Place Versailles will be transformed into a mixed-use complex over the next 25 years.

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

Seattle Safe Parking Site to Close, Relocate
A nonprofit leases lots during permitting stages to erect tiny homes and RV safe parking sites for unhoused residents. But the model means constant uncertainty and displacement.

LA ‘Mobility Wallet’ Increased Quality of Life for Participants
The city distributed a monthly $150 transportation subsidy to 1,000 low-income Angelenos. It dramatically improved their lives.

Texas, California Rail Projects Seek Out Private Funding
In the wake of Trump’s cuts to high-speed rail projects, rail authorities are looking to private-public partnerships to supplement their budgets.
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