As Housing Crisis Continues, Cities Take New Approaches

In an article for Smart Cities Dive, Kalena Thomhave outlines emerging trends in how cities approach reducing homelessness and alleviating the housing crisis, which continues to impact most American cities. “Just 34 affordable rentals are available for every 100 renters with extremely low income, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition.”

As Thomhave notes, some cities are using their local power to reduce zoning restrictions on multifamily housing, enact tenant protection and rent stabilization laws, and outlaw discrimination against housing voucher recipients. “Alongside plans for the construction of permanent housing, cities are also building interim housing: safe, temporary housing for people experiencing homelessness.”

Cities are also looking for ways to reduce dependence on federal housing assistance programs. One such revenue source, the so-called “mansion tax” on transfers of high-value properties, was passed by over a dozen localities since 2018 and could become a significant source of new revenue for affordable housing programs.

Taking a different approach, some cities are taking more punitive measures against unhoused people after a Supreme Court ruling, Grants Pass v. Johnson, paved the way for the criminalization of homelessness.