Affordable Housing

When Planners Misread Maps: It's Time to Rethink Zoning
Jordan Fraade writes of the embarrassing mishap of the New York City department that misread its own zoning maps. What else are we missing, and at what cost, because of byzantine land use regulations?

3 Strategies for Controlling Gentrification
Sandy Smith summarizes a recent "Gentrification, Integration, and Equity" event hosted by Next City in Philadelphia.

Affordable Accessory Dwelling Units
Prospect Newtown, in Longmont, CO, has seamlessly integrated affordable housing by creating a host of accessory dwelling units (ADUs). The ADUs are perfectly blended within the town overall—and actually help contribute to the development’s success.
When People Say 'Functionally Obsolete' but Really Mean 'Redline'
A MinnPost column finds nefarious purposes at work in the use of a couple of the common buzzwords employed in debates about Minneapolis housing.
Historic, Green, Affordable, and at (Some) Scale?
Iberville Offsites received the 2014 National Trust/HUD Secretary’s Award for Excellence in Historic Preservation for restoration of homes as low-income affordable housing
Land Trusts: the Middle Ground of Housing
The Boston Globe recently ran an op-ed in support of community land trusts and inclusionary housing, which was penned by the National Housing Institute/Shelterforce and the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.
Who's Right in the Informal Housing Debate?
When Los Angeles County Planner Jonathan P. Bell wrote about informal housing in the region, several commenters responded. So Bell decided to answer questions and critics.

Can a Net Zero Cottage Work in the Suburbs?
In its first year alone, Zero Cottage has produced 22 percent more energy than it consumes. But can such an urban project be replicated in a suburban setting?

An Unintended Consequence of Unbundling Parking from Housing
Transportation and affordable housing advocates advocate unbundling parking from housing to provide an incentive to own fewer vehicles while reducing housing costs and increasing supply. But should parcel taxes be applied to parking spaces?
San Francisco Voters Increase Height Limits for Waterfront Development
Voters gave Forest City Enterprises' Pier 70 development the go-ahead on Tuesday by increasing height limits from 40 to 90 feet. The 65-acre property will be developed into mixed use, with 2,000 housing units, 30 percent affordable, and open space.

How Affordable Housing Can Compete
With the backing of powerful nonprofit and for-profit investors, the Housing Partnership Equity Trust is making waves with its triple bottom line approach to affordable housing. More importantly, it’s making money.

The False Choice in the Gentrification Debate
The income of original residents is more important to the gentrification debate than any opposition to luxury development or price controls. We need to begin to embed income inequality within the gentrification debate.
Recalling Our Basic Pride of Place
In the fifth of his "place-decoding" series from France, Chuck Wolfe recalls how we carry with us the ability to mine pride from place, even in places that are, perhaps, least expected to shine.

Beijing's One Million Underground Urban Dwellers
The October issue of Land Lines reveals the remarkable story of how an estimated one million people came to live in subterranean apartments in Beijing.
Star Apartments Offer Starchitect Treatment for L.A.'s Skid Row Homeless
The new 100-unit, $40-million Star Apartments opened in Skid Row earlier this week is part of Los Angeles County’s Housing for Health initiative to house 10,000 of the most vulnerable homeless people.
Luxury Condos Saturating New York City's Housing Market
The housing market in NYC has seen a 98.5 percent increase in luxury condo construction since last year. Market experts are concerned there is not enough demand to meet supply, causing developers to build upper to middle-income housing instead.
Report Reveals Imbalanced Investments for Atlanta's BeltLine
While the neighborhoods on northern segments of the Atlanta's BeltLine has received 94 percent of funding invested towards parks and trails, segments to the south have received 86 percent of affordable housing investments.

Learning From My Condo
Even if new housing is expensive, it can reduce overall housing prices by causing existing units to become more affordable.

How '9x18' Parking Spaces Could Solve Affordable Housing
The "9x18" proposal by the Institute for Public Architecture provides a lesson in the relationship between parking requirements and the cost of housing.
Housing America's Older Population—New Report Details the Challenge
A new study from the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University and the AARP Foundation has produced a pile of data on the country's aging population and its implications for housing and planning policy.
Pagination
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.
New York City School Construction Authority
Village of Glen Ellyn
Central Transportation Planning Staff/Boston Region MPO
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions