housing affordability
State preemption, in the form major zoning reforms and mandates for local housing targets, are on the table in the Utah Legislature this year.
The Salt Lake Tribune
New research reveals details of when and where rising rents trigger homelessness.
Zillow Research
Renton, a suburb of Seattle dealing with skyrocketing housing prices like many of the communities in the region, is allowing new density in residential neighborhoods in the form of backyard cottages.
Crosscut
As it exists today, Chicago's real estate transfer tax is a flat tax that charges the same percentage for modest homes and mansions.
Chicago Sun-Times
The news about veteran homelessness rising in expensive cities might come as a surprise, after years of reported progress.
How Housing Matters
An opinion piece in CityLab reiterates the body of research showing evidence that rent control is not an effective tool in reducing housing costs.
CityLab
Columbia, South Carolina is concerned about the lack of affordable housing in its city, potentially making it difficult for fire fighters, teachers, and more to afford to live in the community.
WIS News
Increasing numbers of renters, at all income levels, and in all U.S. metropolitan areas, are competing for a dwindling supply of rental units, according to a new analysis.
Joint Center for Housing Studies
Vancouver Mayor-elect Kennedy Stewart has made some big, ambitious promises when it comes to housing construction in the expensive city.
The Globe and Mail
A new report suggests that upzoning is not the silver bullet some had hoped it would be for housing prices.
Next City
The common metric for measuring housing affordability—whether households pay more than 30 percent of their income on shelter—has its downsides. Looking at residual income offers more precision in some respects.
Joint Center for Housing Studies
There are signs that politicians at every level are responding to the concerns of renters like never before. If only renter-friendly housing policies were matters of simple consensus.
Brookings
If the rent is too damn high, it might still be a good investment.
CityLab
Blog post
Good research indicates that building middle-priced housing increases affordability through "filtering," as some lower-priced housing occupants move into more expensive units, and over time as the new houses depreciate and become cheaper.
Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) has introduced legislation that would tie federal funding to pro-development policies at the local level.
The American Prospect
Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) recently proposed legislation that would create a refundable tax credit for qualifying rental households.
Next City
The city of Philadelphia shows that not all affordability crises are created with the same mix of supply and demand.
PlanPhilly
The public comment period for the draft Minneapolis 2040 Comprehensive Plan will wrap up soon. City council members are already responding to concerns from singe-family neighborhood residents about the density proposed in the plan.
Star Tribune
Cities like San Francisco or New York can suck up all the oxygen for the conversation about housing affordability in the U.S. Meanwhile rapidly growing cities like Nashville, where the scope of a crisis of affordability is no less dire.
Tennessean
And stop changing the subject, adds the Editorial Board of the San Francisco Chronicle.
The San Francisco Chronicle
