More Americans can’t afford decent housing.
Low interest rates and tax cuts on investment income for the wealthiest Americans has helped to push home ownership rates to the highest levels in U.S. history. Some 68 percent of American householders own their own homes. The number of new homes built in the United States annually has reached roughly 1.4 million, also a record. More than 40,000 new homes are built annually in Michigan, according to figures compiled by Michigan State University's Land Policy Program. Yet the mismatch between rising living costs and stagnant working wages also is pushing homeownership rates down in some states, including Michigan, and contributing to housing shortages. Some 73.8 percent of Michigan householders owned their homes in 2000, according to the U.S. Census, down from a record 74.4 percent in 1970. Michigan is one of 11 states that have seen homeownership rates decline since 1970.
Thanks to Keith Schneider
Read the full story: America’s Fading Dream: Homeownership for Working People
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
California plans to bury El Niño’s downpour
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Los Angeles just elected an urban planner as its mayor
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Mamdani’s pied-à-terre tax survives legal challenge
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Eastern Nebraska is running out of electricity
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FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority