Upzoning
Legislation to stop construction of McMansions is being undermined by a zoning loophole.
Curbed Los Angeles
SB 50 was often viewed as an attack on wealthy, single-family homeowners, but housing justice advocates also had issues with the legislation.
Curbed
Upzoning is gaining popularity among planners and politicians in parts of the country as a tool for affordability. But some opponents of the idea maintain that new density will only make housing affordability worse.
Curbed
For the third year in a row, an effort to increase density near transit in statewide in California has stalled in the legislature.
Los Angeles Times
The Land Use subcommittee of the Virginia House of Delegates decided quickly to uphold local control of zoning.
WAMU
The ranks of states considering or taking steps to override local control to allow new density in the residential neighborhoods of cities has swelled once again, this time with a state senator in Nebraska pitching statewide legislation.
1011 Now
The ambitious "Homes for All" plan would include upzoning as only one tool for addressing the acute housing affordability crisis in the state of Maryland.
CityLab
News broke yesterday that the dormant SB 50, a bill proposed last year by California State Senator Scott Weiner, has new life in the new year.
CALmatters
Incremental changes to density on single-family parcels could boost the nation’s housing stock without dramatic impacts at the neighborhood level.
Curbed
Much of the debate about housing shortages and rising housing costs focuses on single-family housing as the main culprit. But could it also be part of the solution?
Curbed
The Commonwealth of Virginia will consider a bill that would legalize duplexes in single-family zones throughout the state.
CityLab
Seattle Councilmember Abel Pacheco writes on opinion piece for The Urbanist to make the case for transit-oriented density on The Ave in the city's University District.
The Urbanist
San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer is following up on an idea first pitched during a State of the City address, but with a few teaks.
Voice of San Diego
Cities looking to follow Minneapolis's lead in overturning the status quo of exclusionary zoning should consider "gentle density," according to this article.
Brookings
Though it stops well short of a citywide upzoning, the city of Tacoma has still expanded its planned development envelope by upzoning residential neighborhoods around the city.
The Urbanist
Even as density increases in Minneapolis, affordable housing is not going to be accessible to the people who need it, according to an article by James S. Russell.
Architectural Record
The corridor along University Way is currently exempt from the wave of upzoning implemented by the city's Mandatory Housing Affordability program, but that exemption is only temporary.
The Urbanist
House Bill 2001 didn't ban single-family houses altogether, just single-family zoning, so change will take time, and money. There are a lot of unknowns for residents to grapple with when it comes to statewide upzoning.
The Oregonian
U.S. Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson, in Minneapolis last week, expressed support for the planning reforms include in the Minneapolis 2040 Comprehensive Plan.
Star Tribune
Legislation approved this week finally brings the city of San Francisco up to date with state laws approved in 2016.
San Francisco Public Press
