Housing

Louisville Council Decision on Housing Development Subject of Discrimination Investigation
The U.S. Department of Justice is taking another look at a development decision made by the Louisville Metro Council in October 2017.

Two Transit Agencies Using Their Clout to Spur Affordable Housing
More transit agencies are recognizing that it's not enough to build transit infrastructure if the people who really need it don't live close enough to use it.

Reevaluating Rent Control
Cities and researchers are reconsidering the effects of the controversial housing policy known as rent control.

Equitable Development in the Mission District
A local nonprofit created a real estate development wing to stem the tide of displacement in San Francisco.

Minneapolis Considering Inclusionary Housing Again
Minneapolis City Council President Lisa Bender thinks the political calculus has changed for inclusionary zoning—but some critics think inclusionary zoning will be too little too late to make a difference for the city's affordable housing stock.
State Affordable Housing Policies as Sprawl Enabler
A critique of New Jersey's housing policies lends historical perspective before taking an unexpected rhetorical turn.

Report Details Racial Discrimination Among Banks and Mortgage Lenders
Fifty years of the Fair Housing Act hasn't been enough to stop banks and mortgage lenders from discriminating against people of color. Some bad actors are worse than others, though the whole industry in the aggregate is hardly free from indictment.

Hispanic Families Left Behind in the Central Texas Boom
A new report shows the need for Central Texas counties and cities to invest in their Latino populations.

An Artist Campaigns Against Anti-Homeless 'Hostile Design'
Bournemouth native Stuart Semple is intent on "naming and shaming the bodies who fund and install these things."

Dormant Inner Suburbs and the Affordability Crisis
Richard Florida takes a look at a new report that traces the affordability crisis to cities' inability to densify their older, inner suburbs.

Unexpected 'Airbnb Ban' in Detroit's Residential Neighborhoods Causes a Stir
Somehow the city of Detroit managed to start enforcing an Airbnb ban in single-family neighborhoods without anyone realize the council had approved the regulation.

Cabrini-Green's Life And Death
A new book tells the story of Chicago's Cabrini-Green and reflects on what the lives of the people in this public housing project have to say about the lives of all Americans.

Housing Limits Potentially on the Ballot in Colorado
A ballot initiative is moving forward in Colorado that would severely limit housing production in the already housing-constrained Front Range region. We're not talking about urban growth boundaries here.

Trulia Launches House Hunting Tool for Evaluating LGBT Protections
Call it buyer beware: the real estate website Trulia is offering a new tool to helps house hunters evaluate whether communities discriminate against the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender residents.
One Native American Family, Two Housing Crises
In Oakland, California and Torreon, New Mexico, Julian Brave NoiseCat reports that "[f]or Indigenous people, the crisis of the home is intergenerational."

Demand For Higher Density Development Slowing Down
Will 2018 signal the end of the latest real estate cycle as we know it?

Study: Mixed-Use Neighborhoods Fail Affordability
A study published recently in the Journal of the American Planning Association finds that mixed-use neighborhoods in Toronto are only delivering benefits to those who can afford to pay a premium.

Most California Cities Now Subject to State-Mandated Development Streamlining
Given that 97 percent of California cities aren't meeting their housing targets, SB 35, last year's landmark "by-right" housing bill, now applies to projects that contain varying amounts of affordable units.

HUD Mulling Work Requirements and Higher Rents for Housing Assistance
More details of the Trump Administration's agenda at the Department of Housing and Urban Development were revealed late last week.

Berkeley Mayor Condemns Legislation to Increase Housing Density by Transit
Mayor Jesse Arreguín's charges about permissible heights, demolition of rent-controlled housing and displacement that would result from Senate Bill 827 by Sen. Wiener are refuted in the Berkeleyside article, though the latter two have resonance.
Pagination
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