Housing

Housing Discrimination Explained by a Comic Strip
A comic strip succeeds in presenting the complex history of redlining and housing discrimination.

Pittsburgh City Council Mulls Options for Affordable Housing Funding
Deciding to create an affordable housing trust fund is one thing, deciding how to fund it is another.

Is the Silicon Valley Past its Peak?
A lack of housing is responsible for an expected decline of the Silicon Valley's economic dominance, according to this opinion piece.

Bay Area Not Prepared for Next Big One
As the death toll from Mexico's 7.1 magnitude earthquake on Sept. 19 climbs above 300, the San Francisco Chronicle investigates how well prepared the Bay Area is for an earthquake of comparable magnitude. Not very well.

L.A.'s New Transit Oriented Communities Guidelines Are a Boost for Affordable Housing
The city of Los Angeles is taking substantive action to provide incentives for affordable housing development.

Op-Ed Pins Britain's Housing Crisis on its Green Belts
The green belts that hem in developed areas in Great Britain are set arbitrarily, according to this op-ed in The Guardian, and the boundaries have outlived their usefulness.

Carson Op-Ed Lays Out the Trump Agenda for HUD
Ben Carson has penned an op-ed that lays out the ideology driving the Trump Administration's approach to the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Hyper Urban Growth Without Residential Displacement
Here's a change: Displacement in the nation's fastest growing urban neighborhood has largely been limited to businesses. The new highrises have given Queens something it never had: a skyline.

Proposed Density Causes 'Chaos' at the Newark City Council Hearing
A suite of zoning changes that would increase building heights and density along the Passaic River in Newark, New Jersey, provoked a chaotic council hearing that devolved into shouting and the removal of residents from the council chambers.

Organization Sets Up Tents to Shelter Homeless in Detroit
A civil rights organization has taken direct action to provide support for homeless people living in Detroit.

Mapping Displacement Stories
The Regional Plan Association calls on the power of the contemporary Internet to broadcast stories of displacement from around Greater New York.

Downtown L.A. Sees Vacancies Rise and Homeless Populations Grow
There's plenty of housing available in Downtown L.A. for the wealthy but, while those apartments sit empty, many looking for housing find costs too high to pay.

They'll Help You Buy a House if You Airbnb It and Give Them a Cut
A Seattle company will give you $50,000 for a down payment if you'll continuously rent your extra room on Airbnb and give them most of the money.

Seattle Housing Not Family-Sized
As Seattle grows, families are finding it harder to find homes, because the city has a disproportionate number of one-bedrooms and studios compared to other American cities.

Sustainable for Whom? Large-Scale Urban Development Projects and 'Environmental Gentrification'
Large, adaptive-reuse projects are all the rage in urban planning today, but absent a fundamentally new approach—with affordability at the center of the process—they are likely to become engines of what's been termed "environmental gentrification."

How the National Flood Insurance Program Sabotaged Itself
Having charged low rates during years of bumper development, the National Flood Insurance Program worked at cross-purposes with itself while development continued on.

Critical Housing Bills Pass California Legislature on Final Day
The California legislature ended its season on Friday, handing Gov. Jerry Brown a third major victory. After passing landmark legislation earlier in transportation and climate change, a slate of controversial housing bills await his signature.

Harvey Flooding Unlikely to Depress Houston's Housing Market
Vigorous continued demand for Houston homes left some realtors surprised after the city endured catastrophic flooding. For a lot of new construction, elevated homes may become the norm.

How Overly Restrictive Land Use Regulations Hurt the Nation's Economy
Two economics professors from the University of Chicago and the University of California, Berkeley argue that the housing crisis doesn't just affect booming coastal cities. It's a national problem.

Atlanta BeltLine Raises the Specter of 'Environmental Gentrification'
Large-scale adaptive reuse projects like the BeltLine in Atlanta receive praise in many circles. But they can also release a flurry of speculation, severely threatening affordability.
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