Housing

Rent

Rents Rebounding Around the U.S., Report Says

Apartment List's May National Rent Report indicates that the brief reprieve in rising rental prices caused the economic disruption of the pandemic might already be a thing of the past.

April 29, 2021 - Apartment List

Downtown Detroit

How Easy Is it to Repurpose Offices into Apartments?

Adaptive reuse is a hot concept, but regulatory and financial hurdles have made it slow to catch on in practice.

April 28, 2021 - Slate

Shipping Container Housing

Building Modular Housing Factories Near Areas With High Housing Costs

To improve housing costs and economic conditions at once, look to the locations of modular housing factories.

April 28, 2021 - Shelterforce Magazine

Vacant Lot

Unpermitted RV Park Faces Code Enforcement Pressure in Oakland

A controversy over the unpermitted use of RVs for shelter on an otherwise empty lot in West Oakland reveals a confluence of Bay Area housing crises.

April 28, 2021 - The Mercury News

California Homeless

Judge Presses Pause on Controversial Skid Row Housing Order

A 60-day grace period and some additional contingencies have been added to a court order for the city and county of Los Angeles to provide shelter or housing to the thousands of people experiencing homelessness on Skid Row in Downtown Los Angeles.

April 28, 2021 - Los Angeles Times

Aspen

Can Cities Be Saved From 'Supergentrification'?

For other cities struggling with sky-high real estate prices, Colorado’s resort town offers some instructive lessons on what’s working — and what isn’t.

April 28, 2021 - Next City

Aerial view of Atlanta BeltLine greenway with multistory buildings one ither side

Suburban Renters Flocked to Atlanta During the Pandemic

The city's comparatively affordable rents and low unemployment rate have attracted new residents during a year when many big cities saw their population growth slow.

April 28, 2021 - Urbanize Atlanta

Community Land Trusts

Community Land Trusts Go Commercial: Nonprofit Offices, Hairdressers, and a Sausage Factory

Community land trusts, better known for permanently affordable housing, expand into commercial spaces for a wide range of reasons, and in a wide range of ways.

April 27, 2021 - Shelterforce Magazine

Portland Condo High-Rise

Housing Vouchers Prove an Effective Tool Against Homelessness

The Biden administration plans to expand the federal housing voucher program, which currently provides rental assistance to 2.3 million U.S. households.

April 27, 2021 - Next City

Masks and Home Sales

Checking in With the Wild Pandemic-Era Housing Market

Bidding wars, TikToks, and disparate impacts—every day there's more evidence that the pandemic has only worsened the nation's housing affordability crisis.

April 27, 2021 - Slate

Bronx Apartments

A Movement-Based Federal Housing Agenda

What are the New Deal for Housing Justice and the BREATHE Act and how do they move beyond previous housing agendas?

April 26, 2021 - Shelterforce Magazine

Outdoor Recreation

Friday Funny: The Onion Skewers Elon Musk (Again)

Elon Musk, a favorite target of satirists and urbanists alike, is once again the subject of The Onion's withering pen.

April 23, 2021 - The Onion

Public Housing

New York Residents Support Affordable Housing, Survey Says

Contrary to the dominant narrative about the negative perceptions of affordable housing projects among the public, a recent survey reveals widespread support for affordable housing in the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut metropolitan region.

April 23, 2021 - Regional Plan Association

New York Development

Opinion: Zoning Reform Is a Social Justice Issue

Far from an obscure, wonky local issue, zoning reform has the potential to advance social justice in American cities.

April 22, 2021 - The New York Times

Columbus Ohio

Ohio Economists: Relax Zoning to Lower Housing Costs

A panel of Ohio economists make the case for more multi-family housing and businesses in single-family neighborhoods.

April 22, 2021 - Ohio Capital Journal

Los Angeles Protest

New Rent Debt Dashboard Illustrates the Scope of Debt Risks

With regular updates of rent debt data from around the United States, a new dashboard reveals the depths of one of the most pressing crises of the pandemic.

April 21, 2021 - National Equity Atlas

Los Angeles, California

Judge's Ruling Will Force L.A. to Reckon With Skid Row

A federal judge has ruled that the city and county of Los Angeles, home to the nation's largest population of people experiencing homelessness, must overcome the development delays that have prevented the creation of new supportive housing.

April 21, 2021 - Los Angeles Times

Birmingham, Alabama

Federal Stimulus Offers a Chance for Local Reinvention

Cities around the country are making big plans for economic relief funding from the federal government.

April 21, 2021 - The Washington Post

Cambridge Massachusetts

The Thinking Behind Cambridge's Affordable Housing Overlay

A podcast discussion with Cambridge Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui details how and why the Massachusetts city become a planning trendsetter by adopting an Affordable Housing Overlay earlier this year.

April 21, 2021 - Land Matter Podcast

Lower Manhattan

Pre-Existing Conditions

Vital urbanism and a prescription for the post-pandemic city.

April 21, 2021 - Dan Kaplan

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.

Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

Top Schools

The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

100 Most Influential Urbanists

The who's who of urbanism, according to Planetizen readers.

Urban Planning Creators You Should Know

A short list of voices on social, video, and podcasting platforms.