Housing
Friday Funny: A YIMBY Smackdown
This is a strange one.

Australia's Housing Market Rebuts Supply Side Housing Policies
Australia's housing market has built steadily at market rates but housing affordability has remained steady. What if building waves of new supply isn't enough to improve affordable housing options for those in need?

Property Tax Exemption for Affordable Units Under Consideration in Portland
The proposed property tax exemption in Portland would be from the "carrot" school of affordable housing incentives.
California's First Use of 2017 'By-Right' Housing Law
A Berkeley parking lot is the site of the state's first implementation of a controversial landmark law that allows eligible developments with affordable housing to bypass the normal channels for approval if they conform to local zoning laws.

Is Mass Timber the Solution to California's Housing Crisis?
One writer argues that cost, versatility and visual appeal makes this new building material exactly what the state will need if planned regulatory changes go through.

Opinion: Pricey Dorms Aren't the Problem with San Francisco
It's easy to make fun of expensive “adult dorms,” but in a San Francisco property market with few options beyond single-family homes, other living options should be welcomed

Detroit Announces $250 Million Affordable Housing Fund
The city of Detroit is setting affordable housing as the cornerstone of its growth strategy.

True Affordability: Critiquing the International Housing Affordability Survey
The International Housing Affordability Survey is biased in ways that make urban-fringe housing seem more affordable and infill seem less affordable. Anybody who uses this analysis should be warned.

California Spends $6.5 Billion on Homeowner Subsidies, 15 Times Less on Renters
A new report from the California Housing Partnership "revealed a wide gap between state support for homeowners and renters."

Minneapolis Draft Comprehensive Plan Would Allow Fourplexes in Single-Family Neighborhoods
If the rezoning of single-family neighborhoods succeeds in Minneapolis as part of its ongoing Comprehensive Plan process, we could be looking at one of the most ambitious pro-development zoning schemes in the country.

HUD Changing Mission
Although it's unclear if the change is final, it's been widely reported that leadership at the U.S. Department of Housing and Development is pushing to remove wording about racial discrimination from the organization's mission statement.
A Map of the Country's Black Homeownership Gap
None of the top 100 American cities in African American population offers inclusive homeownership rates.

In California, Policies Spur Rebuilding in the Wildland-Urban Interface
After the worst wildfire season ever, changes to local land use and state insurance rules essentially ensure that the same thing will happen again.

L.A.'s Mayor Garcetti Sides With Single-Family Housing Near Transit
Politicians are taking positions on a controversial California housing bill to densify by transit. Even after amendments were accepted on March 1 in response to concerns about displacement and demolitions, the mayor of Los Angeles remains opposed.

Housing Affordability Challenges Visit Idaho
Boise and surrounding cities are going to need new housing to meet the demand of tens of thousands of new residents in the coming years.

A Man's Truck Is His Palace?
In a move to grant further autonomy and rights to the homeless population of Seattle, a court found in favor of a man who argued his truck was his home and should not have been towed after he didn't move for 72 hours.
Las Vegas Homeless Encampment to Become Permanent
The city of Las Vegas is buying land on Foremaster Lane and making it legal for homeless residents to camp there.
True Affordability: Critiquing the International Housing Affordability Survey
The International Housing Affordability Survey rates affordability in selected urban regions. Although presented as objective research, the IHAS is actually propaganda. Users of this information should be warned about its biases

Study Analyses the Airbnb Effect in the New York City Housing Market
Less "sharing economy" and more normal economy for New York City in New York City, according to the findings of a recent study.

More Reports of Trouble at the Top of HUD
Another in a string of detailed exposés on the working conditions and policy agenda of the Department of Housing and Urban Development under the leadership of Secretary Ben Carson.
Pagination
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