In Kansas City, Missouri, voters just elected their former city auditor as their new mayor. One of the unlikely campaign issues: the use of tax increment financing for developers.
Mark Funkhouser, Kansas City's auditor for 18 years, will now be the city's mayor for the next four years. He narrowly won over a two-term city councilman and mayor pro tem who has devoted his life to public service. Funkhouser's grassroots campaign didn't use a professional manager and spent half as much as his opponent's professionally-run campaign.
"The top issue in the contest between Funkhouser and Brooks, oddly enough, involved a complex and esoteric economic development incentive called tax increment financing. Few might have guessed that a debate over TIF would grab the public's attention. But at its heart, TIF was about equity and who controls city government - developers winning tax breaks or city officials."
FULL STORY: Funkhouser wins mayor's race

Florida Considers Legalizing ADUs
Current state law allows — but doesn’t require — cities to permit accessory dwelling units in single-family residential neighborhoods.

Manufactured Crisis: Losing the Nation’s Largest Source of Unsubsidized Affordable Housing
Manufactured housing communities have long been an affordable housing option for millions of people living in the U.S., but that affordability is disappearing rapidly. How did we get here?

HUD Announces Plan to Build Housing on Public Lands
The agency will identify federally owned parcels appropriate for housing development and streamline the regulatory process to lease or transfer land to housing authorities and nonprofit developers.

Research: Walkability Linked to Improved Public Health
A study reveals that the density of city blocks is a significant factor in communities’ walkability and, subsequently, improved public health outcomes for residents.

Report Outlines Strategies for Resilient Wildfire Recovery in LA
Project Recovery offers a roadmap for rebuilding more sustainable and climate-resilient communities after wildfires and other disasters.

New Executive Order Renews Attack on Public Lands
An order issued late last week pushes for increased mineral extraction on federally owned public lands.
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.
Florida Atlantic University
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
City of Piedmont, CA
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service
City of Cambridge, Maryland