YIMBYs
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
YIMBYs don't understand poverty, claimed one social justice group. Few, if any, connections with equity groups and too many with tech companies may have helped doom SB 827's chances of making it to first base in the legislature this year.
Los Angeles Times
Even before the bill was defeated, it exposed a major generational divide between anti-development environmentalists and their pro-density, pro-housing heirs.
San Francisco Magazine
YIMBYs are describing the jobs-housing imbalance represented in the Central SoMa Plan as reminiscent of the housing policies of cities farther down the Peninsula.
BeyondChron
Amendments are circulating for one of the most-closely watched, and passionately debated, pieces of housing legislation in the country.
Medium
California State Senator Scott Wiener made a big splash this month by announcing a package of pro-development bills, and now interest groups are taking sides in a heated debate over housing and density.
San Francisco Chronicle
The threat of a lawsuit by the California Renters Legal Advocacy has the city of Dublin rethinking a housing proposal that would add 220 units near the Dublin/Pleasanton BART station.
The Independent
The Boston Globe explores the YIMBY (Yes In My Backyard) movement, as debate over a retail project in East Boston gains pro-development interest.
The Boston Globe
