Housing
Blog
Are Western cities ready for renewable skyscrapers?
Every so often a product comes along that presents itself as a “sustainable” innovation, yet has compelling appeal even if sustainability isn’t someone’s top priority. Of course, sustainability has become something of an overused buzzword, but it generally refers to a production process that doesn’t deplete natural resources or damage the environment. ...
Blog
Transfer Taxes and Eviction Bans Cripple Housing Growth
Transfer Taxes and Eviction Bans Cripple Housing Growth By Kenneth Schrupp January 20, 2023 While the rest of the nation experiences slowing rent growth and even rent declines, rents are projected to increase in California at the maximum legal level as the state’s enduring housing shortage more than offset the ...
Blog
A California Homeless Christmas Carol
My brother’s phone was dead — really dead. But his exacting and obsessive nature wouldn’t permit him move on. A few days earlier, he had lost his phone along with several credit cards. Technology being what it is, his wife’s phone was able to pinpoint exactly where it was — ...
Blog
CA’s Housing Crisis is So Bad That Families Are Now Taking in Their Child’s Teacher
“Do you have a room for rent?” asks the Rooms For Rent For MUSD Educators online form. “Please fill out this form and our MUSD educators who are seeking a room to rent will be notified. The rest is up to you.” “The continued loss of staff is what led ...
Blog
U.S. land ‘shortage’ is result of artificial growth limits
Some of the social-media responses to a Wall Street Journal article in September headlined, “The U.S. is Running Short of Land for Housing,” were heated. They proved – for anyone who has yet to realize it – that Tweeters and Facebook users might not always read posted articles particularly carefully ...
Featured
Watch Tour: Increasing Housing Density Can Build Thriving Neighborhoods
Watch as Steven Greenhut of PRI’s Free Cities Center and California YIMBY director of communications Matthew Lewis go on a tour of Berkeley to see first hand how denser, multi-family housing units and exist in harmony with single-family homes and create thriving neighborhoods.
Blog
‘Parasitic’ architecture offers a way to boost housing density
The concept is attractive. Taking advantage of an existing superstructure and utility conduits, developers can simply add new units on the sides and top of a residential building. In theory, this can save money, preserve the original building and create new housing in areas where housing tends to be in ...
Blog
Would A Vacancy Tax Reduce State’s Housing Shortage? History Says No.
While it might seem impossible given the state’s perpetual housing shortage, there are empty homes in California. Some policymakers believe that forcing the owners to put tenants in their properties will help solve an unaffordability problem that has priced so many out of the market. Sounds simple. Of course it’s ...
California
Project Homekey is expensive and ineffective. Let’s shift to much more promising policies.
By Kerry Jackson & Wayne Winegarden Last month, San Diego officials announced that the county and city will be receiving nearly $12 million in state Project Homekey funds to build housing for the homeless. It’s a publicly funded program that will, no doubt, be celebrated in the halls of government as a ...
Blog
Rent control is destroying a city near you
In 1977, President Jimmy Carter stood on a vacant lot on Charlotte Street in the South Bronx, surrounded by empty, burned-out buildings, something reminiscent of Berlin at the end of World War II. The scene looked like something from a scene in “Escape from New York,” but Carter promised he ...
Are Western cities ready for renewable skyscrapers?
Every so often a product comes along that presents itself as a “sustainable” innovation, yet has compelling appeal even if sustainability isn’t someone’s top priority. Of course, sustainability has become something of an overused buzzword, but it generally refers to a production process that doesn’t deplete natural resources or damage the environment. ...
Transfer Taxes and Eviction Bans Cripple Housing Growth
Transfer Taxes and Eviction Bans Cripple Housing Growth By Kenneth Schrupp January 20, 2023 While the rest of the nation experiences slowing rent growth and even rent declines, rents are projected to increase in California at the maximum legal level as the state’s enduring housing shortage more than offset the ...
A California Homeless Christmas Carol
My brother’s phone was dead — really dead. But his exacting and obsessive nature wouldn’t permit him move on. A few days earlier, he had lost his phone along with several credit cards. Technology being what it is, his wife’s phone was able to pinpoint exactly where it was — ...
CA’s Housing Crisis is So Bad That Families Are Now Taking in Their Child’s Teacher
“Do you have a room for rent?” asks the Rooms For Rent For MUSD Educators online form. “Please fill out this form and our MUSD educators who are seeking a room to rent will be notified. The rest is up to you.” “The continued loss of staff is what led ...
U.S. land ‘shortage’ is result of artificial growth limits
Some of the social-media responses to a Wall Street Journal article in September headlined, “The U.S. is Running Short of Land for Housing,” were heated. They proved – for anyone who has yet to realize it – that Tweeters and Facebook users might not always read posted articles particularly carefully ...
Watch Tour: Increasing Housing Density Can Build Thriving Neighborhoods
Watch as Steven Greenhut of PRI’s Free Cities Center and California YIMBY director of communications Matthew Lewis go on a tour of Berkeley to see first hand how denser, multi-family housing units and exist in harmony with single-family homes and create thriving neighborhoods.
‘Parasitic’ architecture offers a way to boost housing density
The concept is attractive. Taking advantage of an existing superstructure and utility conduits, developers can simply add new units on the sides and top of a residential building. In theory, this can save money, preserve the original building and create new housing in areas where housing tends to be in ...
Would A Vacancy Tax Reduce State’s Housing Shortage? History Says No.
While it might seem impossible given the state’s perpetual housing shortage, there are empty homes in California. Some policymakers believe that forcing the owners to put tenants in their properties will help solve an unaffordability problem that has priced so many out of the market. Sounds simple. Of course it’s ...
Project Homekey is expensive and ineffective. Let’s shift to much more promising policies.
By Kerry Jackson & Wayne Winegarden Last month, San Diego officials announced that the county and city will be receiving nearly $12 million in state Project Homekey funds to build housing for the homeless. It’s a publicly funded program that will, no doubt, be celebrated in the halls of government as a ...
Rent control is destroying a city near you
In 1977, President Jimmy Carter stood on a vacant lot on Charlotte Street in the South Bronx, surrounded by empty, burned-out buildings, something reminiscent of Berlin at the end of World War II. The scene looked like something from a scene in “Escape from New York,” but Carter promised he ...
