Current housing policies at the local and national level have tried to make housing more affordable while at the same time increasing the value of homes, recognizing them as a personal investment.

Writing in City Observatory, Daniel Hertz identifies the often conflicting goals of housing policy around the country. The "confused" policy recognizes the need for affordable housing in many areas, but at the same time seeks to maintain the existing housing market, with the goal of increasing housing value because it has become one of the primary investment tools of the American middle-class. Restricting the increase in value of a property would therefore ultimately hurt the individual homeowner who has used the investment as "a path to wealth building." Hertz offers two ideas as potential solutions:
First, the "robust production of housing that isn’t priced by the market, and therefore isn’t affected by rising market prices;" and
Second, "having a wide variety of housing types and sizes can also make room for people of a wide variety of incomes." As an example, Hertz cites his own neighborhood in Chicago, which includes a mix of single-family homes, condo buildings, older multi-family unit buildings, and a few single room occupancy buildings.
FULL STORY: Why America can’t make up its mind about housing

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.

The 120 Year Old Tiny Home Villages That Sheltered San Francisco’s Earthquake Refugees
More than a century ago, San Francisco mobilized to house thousands of residents displaced by the 1906 earthquake. Could their strategy offer a model for the present?

HSR Reaches Key Settlement in Northern California City
The state’s high-speed rail authority reached an agreement with Millbrae, a key city on the train’s proposed route to San Francisco.

Washington State Legislature Passes Parking Reform Bill
A bill that would limit parking requirements for new developments is headed to the governor’s desk.

Missouri Law Would Ban Protections for Housing Voucher Users
A state law seeks to overturn source-of-income discrimination bans passed by several Missouri cities.
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