The growing Texas city needs a new approach to meet its residents’ housing and mobility needs.

Writing in the San Antonio Report, Ron Nirenberg calls for a new pattern of development in San Antonio. “San Antonio will continue to experience population growth, and housing shortages do not have to be a recurring feature in our housing ecosystem. There are solutions to increase housing availability and address the affordability challenge through thoughtful reforms that will appropriately ease regulations to encourage denser residential housing to accommodate future growth.”
Improving housing affordability, for Nirenberg, “requires a shift in how we approach new development, especially along major roads connecting to our 13 regional employment centers.” Nirenberg points to a policy legalizing accessory dwelling units (ADUs) as one such successful reform and recommends zoning for transit-oriented development along the planned Advanced Rapid Transit (ART) line as another way to boost the housing supply near transportation options.
“Transit-oriented development initiatives that match regulatory flexibility with market demand will allow the introduction of additional, convenient housing types, such as townhouses, brownstones, and zero-lot line builds that will serve to ease pressure on our housing supply and affordability while boosting walkability and connectivity to new and old destinations alike.”
FULL STORY: Thoughtful reforms, transit-oriented development assist housing affordability efforts

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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