Through a combination of policies, the city has managed to limit the severity of the nationwide housing crisis.

Writing in Brown Political Review, Jeremy Gold outlines how Minneapolis stabilized rent prices in the city and largely avoided the major housing affordability crisis facing most of the country.
Thanks to a sweeping set of 100 policies implemented at the start of 2020 known as the “Minneapolis 2040 Plan,” rent prices in the city have stabilized in the face of population growth and inflation—and despite higher housing prices throughout the rest of the state.
According to Gold, the four reforms that made the biggest impact on housing affordability are: “eliminating parking minimums; creating density minimums near public transit stations, with higher standards near popular transit hubs and even higher ones downtown; abolishing single-family zoning; and increasing investment in various affordable housing projects, both public and private.”
Those four policies provide a useful model for keeping rents affordable, Gold notes. “Minneapolis has boldly shown a way out of ever-increasing housing prices with a handful of relatively simple policy improvements.”
For Gold, “The starting point of any housing policy, therefore, has to be creating more market-rate housing units in the city center.”
FULL STORY: The Way Out of the Housing Crisis: How Minneapolis Stabilized Rents

Trump Administration Could Effectively End Housing Voucher Program
Federal officials are eyeing major cuts to the Section 8 program that helps millions of low-income households pay rent.

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

Ken Jennings Launches Transit Web Series
The Jeopardy champ wants you to ride public transit.

Driving Equity and Clean Air: California Invests in Greener School Transportation
California has awarded $500 million to fund 1,000 zero-emission school buses and chargers for educational agencies as part of its effort to reduce pollution, improve student health, and accelerate the transition to clean transportation.

Congress Moves to End Reconnecting Communities and Related Grants
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee moved to rescind funding for the Neighborhood Equity and Access program, which funds highway removals, freeway caps, transit projects, pedestrian infrastructure, and more.

From Throughway to Public Space: Taking Back the American Street
How the Covid-19 pandemic taught us new ways to reclaim city streets from cars.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Heyer Gruel & Associates PA
Ada County Highway District
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions
Salt Lake City
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service