Housing
Blog
Read the latest from PRI's Free Cities Center
The market, not politics, should drive office conversions
At least everyone agrees there’s a problem. Americans’ preference for commute-free employment has yielded a surfeit of office vacancy. The phenomenon is a calamity for lessors plagued by plummeting income. Earlier this month, The Seattle Times reported that one of the city’s “most aggressive, and tenacious, developers” has “defaulted on a $240 million loan ...
Blog
Oregon housing demand down, but so is affordability
Oregon housing demand down, but so is affordability By Randal O’Toole | December 13, 2024 Nearly two years ago, Oregon’s Gov. Tina Kotek set a target of increasing the number of homes built in Oregon each year from 22,000 to 36,000. At the time, I argued that the subsidies Kotek was ...
Blog
Read the latest from PRI's Free Cities Center
Can cities keep up as California steps up housing lawsuits?
Housing Element parameters are determined by the state, guiding cities and counties to produce sufficient inventory to accommodate community needs. While Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) numbers get updated every eight years, what is planned for – and what is actually built – have long differed. The state this year ...
Blog
Read the latest from PRI's Free Cities Center
BOOK REVIEW: ‘Key to the City” – or the key to more control?
She is a “Mexican-American architect, attorney, professor and policymaker whose interdisciplinary work focuses on how law and policy can foster more equitable, sustainable, well-designed and connected places.” The author grew up in Houston, served for seven years as the head of Hartford, Conn.’s planning and zoning commission (her ex-husband was ...
Blog
Despite latest defense, zoning is just government coercion
Despite latest defense, zoning is just government coercion By Kerry Jackson | November 22, 2024 Central planning never goes out of style on the political left. On occasion, though, it gets special attention. That’s the case with a new book written by, according to Governing magazine, “an architect and zoning ...
Blog
Beyond rate cuts: Revived housing requires zoning reform
Recent reports by USC researchers and market analysts suggest that California’s already pricey housing stock requires far more than an interest rate cut to balance out, meaning an onrush of moderately priced units aren’t likely in the near term. But there has been further legislation from Sacramento this past session ...
Blog
Despite naysayers, new cities provide boundless possibilities
SACRAMENTO – The average age of an owner-occupied house in California is 45 years, which is a reminder that your home was probably built relatively recently. I was an adult when my “historic” midcentury ranch was first sold (for around $50,000 including the lot). It was part of a futuristic neighborhood of ...
Blog
ELECTION 2024 – California’s ballot measures could worsen homelessness
ELECTION 2024 California’s ballot measures could worsen homelessness John Seiler | October 31, 2024 On Nov. 5, voters in California cities can make the housing and homeless crises better – or worse. Alas, most likely the latter. They likely will pass the vast majority of local sales tax increases, school ...
Blog
Would sales tax increase make Denver more "affordable"?
Legalizing housing will do more for Denver than a tax hike
Like many cities across the country, Denver has experienced soaring housing prices. While wages in the Denver area have increased 55% over the last decade, the median home sale price has surged 180%. A majority of renters are burdened by high rents eating up 30% or more of their incomes, ...
California
Judge Glock – On California’s Housing and Homelessness Problems
With housing – including rent control and development policies – and homelessness key issues for voters across California this election year, we present an expanded version of our recent conversation between the Manhattan Institute’s Judge Glock and our Steven Greenhut of PRI’s Free Cities Center. The two discuss government housing ...
Read the latest from PRI's Free Cities Center
The market, not politics, should drive office conversions
At least everyone agrees there’s a problem. Americans’ preference for commute-free employment has yielded a surfeit of office vacancy. The phenomenon is a calamity for lessors plagued by plummeting income. Earlier this month, The Seattle Times reported that one of the city’s “most aggressive, and tenacious, developers” has “defaulted on a $240 million loan ...
Oregon housing demand down, but so is affordability
Oregon housing demand down, but so is affordability By Randal O’Toole | December 13, 2024 Nearly two years ago, Oregon’s Gov. Tina Kotek set a target of increasing the number of homes built in Oregon each year from 22,000 to 36,000. At the time, I argued that the subsidies Kotek was ...
Read the latest from PRI's Free Cities Center
Can cities keep up as California steps up housing lawsuits?
Housing Element parameters are determined by the state, guiding cities and counties to produce sufficient inventory to accommodate community needs. While Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) numbers get updated every eight years, what is planned for – and what is actually built – have long differed. The state this year ...
Read the latest from PRI's Free Cities Center
BOOK REVIEW: ‘Key to the City” – or the key to more control?
She is a “Mexican-American architect, attorney, professor and policymaker whose interdisciplinary work focuses on how law and policy can foster more equitable, sustainable, well-designed and connected places.” The author grew up in Houston, served for seven years as the head of Hartford, Conn.’s planning and zoning commission (her ex-husband was ...
Despite latest defense, zoning is just government coercion
Despite latest defense, zoning is just government coercion By Kerry Jackson | November 22, 2024 Central planning never goes out of style on the political left. On occasion, though, it gets special attention. That’s the case with a new book written by, according to Governing magazine, “an architect and zoning ...
Beyond rate cuts: Revived housing requires zoning reform
Recent reports by USC researchers and market analysts suggest that California’s already pricey housing stock requires far more than an interest rate cut to balance out, meaning an onrush of moderately priced units aren’t likely in the near term. But there has been further legislation from Sacramento this past session ...
Despite naysayers, new cities provide boundless possibilities
SACRAMENTO – The average age of an owner-occupied house in California is 45 years, which is a reminder that your home was probably built relatively recently. I was an adult when my “historic” midcentury ranch was first sold (for around $50,000 including the lot). It was part of a futuristic neighborhood of ...
ELECTION 2024 – California’s ballot measures could worsen homelessness
ELECTION 2024 California’s ballot measures could worsen homelessness John Seiler | October 31, 2024 On Nov. 5, voters in California cities can make the housing and homeless crises better – or worse. Alas, most likely the latter. They likely will pass the vast majority of local sales tax increases, school ...
Would sales tax increase make Denver more "affordable"?
Legalizing housing will do more for Denver than a tax hike
Like many cities across the country, Denver has experienced soaring housing prices. While wages in the Denver area have increased 55% over the last decade, the median home sale price has surged 180%. A majority of renters are burdened by high rents eating up 30% or more of their incomes, ...
Judge Glock – On California’s Housing and Homelessness Problems
With housing – including rent control and development policies – and homelessness key issues for voters across California this election year, we present an expanded version of our recent conversation between the Manhattan Institute’s Judge Glock and our Steven Greenhut of PRI’s Free Cities Center. The two discuss government housing ...
