YIMBYs
A couple of questions are fundamental to the debate about the housing affordability crisis.
Urban Institute
New efforts by the Trump administration to potentially curtail local land use regulations require closer examination.
The New York Times
President Trump is scheduled to sign an executive order today that will create a federal-level group to study the obstructionist practices of local governments and the potential for a federal response.
The Wall Street Journal
U.S. Senator Todd Young (R-Indiana) has introduced a new law that picks sides in the housing debate, though the law is unlikely to produce structural change in the development process the near future.
Senator Todd Young
The Editorial Board of the New York Times offers perhaps the highest profile support to date for overthrowing the status quo of slow growth and development opposition.
The New York Times
The New York City Department of City Planning is expected, very soon, to release a rezoning proposal for the neighborhoods of SoHo and NoHo in New York City.
Medium
Upzoning without addressing speculation and finance could exacerbate the housing crisis for the nation’s most vulnerable communities, a professor of urban planning warns.
The Planning Report
"This particular solution, which has been very controversial in the Legislature, is not very controversial when it comes to the general public."
Los Angeles Times
Washington's House Bill 1923 is one of a number of bills under consideration this year on the West Coast that attempts to leverage the power of the state for the sake of new development.
The Urbanist
Senate Bill 50, the closely watched upzoning bill proposed by State Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), made it a lot further through the Legislature than the prior attempt, SB 827. Still, SB 50 will short of the finish line in 2019.
Curbed San Francisco
Few in Los Angeles have the opinion that the lack of housing supply is driving the homeless crisis in the city and around the state.
Shelterforce
Rent control is gaining popularity in cities and states around the country. Some economists urge caution when considering this form of tenant protection.
Brookings
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
Blog post
Government-subsidized housing is a useful complement to market-rate housing, but an affordability strategy that relies solely on low-income housing may be impractical.
Legislation in Oregon would follow the lead of Minneapolis in overturning single-family zoning—for all cities in the state with more than 10,000 residents.
Willamette Week
The American Housing and Economic Mobility Act probably has no chance of passing into law, but it's still the most substantial gesture toward housing policy by a member of Congress since the subprime crisis of 2008.
The Atlantic
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.
Blog post
Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development devoted an entire issue of a quarterly newsletter to land use regulations and the idea that local laws are strangling the nation's supply of affordable housing.
The Census Bureau wants to be a friend to YIMBYs and NIMBYs alike.
United States Census Bureau
Though the California housing bill was a high-profile failure for pro-development activists, there are initiatives all over the country that carry its spirit.
CityLab
