Six Positive Innovations in Housing From 2024

In a piece for Vox, Rachel Cohen describes six housing policy ideas from 2024 that could make an impact on the housing crisis.

Describing herself as “cautiously optimistic” about each of them, Cohen begins with the idea of converting vacant malls — particularly strip malls — into housing, a concept that is catching on as retail increasingly moves online and commercial vacancies rise. According to Cohen, “Strip malls in particular offer some unique advantages for developers because they usually come with big empty parking lots that make it easier to build. Recent research estimated that converting just the top 10 percent of strip mall candidates could create more than 700,000 new homes across the country.”

Other positive developments include switching to cash assistance instead of vouchers for people receiving housing assistance, which can cut down on bureaucracy and help people access housing sooner, and using adaptive reuse to convert office buildings into “affordable, dorm-style housing.” Cohen also praises the ‘Yes in God’s Backyard,’ or YIGBY, movement, in which churches and faith communities are taking on the task of building housing on their properties.

For Cohen, “The housing affordability challenges ahead are real, but a lot can change for the better when hard-working people pay attention.” But journalism is about facts and follow-through: “We’re going to keep watching how these ideas develop and what implementation actually looks like.”