Housing
Affordability Trade-offs
Strategies for increasing affordability often involved trade-offs between various goals and impacts. It is important to consider all of these factors when evaluating potential solutions to unaffordability.
Construction Versus Conservation: A Local Case Study
In Washington D.C., ZIP code 20003 is split into two distinct areas: fiercely preserved Capitol Hill and the construction-heavy Capitol Riverfront. But where are rents skyrocketing, and what factors go into that equation?
HUD Took a Strong Stance Against Local Control and Hardly Anyone Noticed
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.
Debating a Renters' Tax Credit at the Federal Level
Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) recently proposed legislation that would create a refundable tax credit for qualifying rental households.
How to Shrink the Racial Homeownership Gap
Following reports that Black Americans owned homes in 2017 than in 1983, banker Teri Williams offers recommendations to diversify homeownership across the United States.
Not All Affordable Housing Shortages Are Alike
The city of Philadelphia shows that not all affordability crises are created with the same mix of supply and demand.
Cheap Rent Could be Another Casualty of the Trade War
Trump’s tariffs on steel and other building materials are driving up building costs slowing development and pushing up rents.
Housing Crunch Provokes Debate in Boston Suburb
The city of Waltham, Massachusetts has added over 11,000 jobs since 2010, but only a few hundred homes. Developers see a prime opportunity, but city officials are reticent.
San Diego Called Out for Section 8 Housing Discrimination
San Diego was identified for its failure to enact a Section 8 housing discrimination ordinance in a recent American Bar Association article. Poverty law attorney Parisa Ijadi-Maghsoodi explains the situation.
Optimism and Investment, Not 'Managed Decline," for the Rust Belt
Managed decline assumes that struggling cities will continue to struggle indefinitely. Is there a better way to plot neighborhood stabilization?
Berkeley Zoning Board Choose Current Gas Station Over Proposed Co-Housing Development
The Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) of one of the nation's most progressive cities has chosen a very conservative approach to new housing projects.
Density Battles Looming in Minneapolis
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.
San Diego City Council Prohibits Short-Term Rentals in Second Homes and ADUs
In a move to limit the number of properties available for rental, the San Diego City Council members voted 6-3 to limit rentals to primary homes and the licensing process more strict.
Rent Dropping in Portland
The market is working, according to City Observatory's take on data finding declining rents in the city of Portland.
San Francisco Suburb to Vote on Massive Project to Double Population
Brisbane, a city of about 4,700 on the southern border of San Francisco, will vote on a controversial ballot measure in November to approve or reject a mixed-use development including up to 2,200 residential units on a 660-acre vacant brownfield.
Debt and Rent Burden Keeping Millennials From Homeownership
Research from the Urban Institute finds that economic hurdles, not just lifestyle preferences, are stopping millennials from buying homes.
Sometime This Summer, California's Population Tops 40 Million
Rather than projecting when the 50 million milestone will be reached, demographic and political indicators predict the state's population is more likely to decline, according to Joe Mathews of Zócalo Public Square.
Editorial: To Fix Housing, Fix Land Use
The scales of land use regulations are tipped, according to this editorial. Balancing them will result in a more affordable city.
East Boston Kicks Off Series of New Neighborhood Plans
Planners and officials in Boston are gathering feedback from the community as an initial step in the recently announced planning and zoning process for East Boston.
We Can Totally Build Our Way Out of This Problem
A list of responses to the statement, "We Can't Build Our Way Out of This Problem."
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.
EMC Planning Group, Inc.
Planetizen
Planetizen
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service
