California needs at least 2.5 million new homes by 2030, but most cities are still falling short. A new study examines whether this shortfall is associated with the politics of who lives in these cities, and how those politics determine…
New York Times: The Housing Strategy That Has California NIMBYs in a Corner
Unrepresentative Sample: How Public Meetings Weaken Fair Housing Outcomes
The practice of inviting the public to comment on proposed projects in long, often-contentious meetings is a hallmark of American urban planning practice in the post urban renewal age. However, recent research out of Boston suggests that the public that…
By-Right Approvals: The Better Part of Housing Valor
Most housing and commercial developments in California cities go through a series of reviews by various government bodies before they are approved for construction, or “entitled” – and those processes differ dramatically. In many cases, projects are approved “by right”…
Why is Housing Unaffordable? The Great Migration’s Effect on Exclusionary Zoning
Published: 2020 | Alexander Sahn Abstract High housing prices drive inequality, reduce growth, and increase racial segregation. Scholars have identified laws restricting the use of land, particularly for dense multi-family housing, as a primary cause of housing unaffordability. What explains…
Parcel Tax in California: Findings from New Data Sources
Published: 2020 | Soomi Lee | CityScape Abstract This article examines parcel taxes in California counties, cities, and special districts. Unique to California, the parcel tax is commonly known as a lump-sum tax applied to parcels of real property to…
Warding Off Development: Local Control, Housing Supply, and NIMBYs
Published: 2020 | Evan Mast | The Center for Growth and Opportunity Abstract Local control of land-use regulation creates a not-in-my-backyard (NIMBY) problem that can suppress housing construction, contributing to rising prices and potentially slowing economic growth. I study how…
From Copenhagen to Tokyo
Published: 2020 | Sarah Karlinsky, Paul Peninger, Cristian Bevington | SPUR Abstract The selected case studies demonstrate a breadth of approaches that address both supply and demand challenges for housing in its entirety, as well as affordable housing more specifically.…
Urban Growth and its Aggregate Implications
Published: 2019 | Gilles Duranton, Diego Puga | Public Economics Abstract We develop an urban growth model where human capital spillovers foster entrepreneurship and learning in heterogenous cities. Incumbent residents limit city expansion through planning regulations so that commuting and…
Long Shadow of Racial Discrimination: Evidence from Housing Covenants of Minneapolis
Published: 2019 | Aradhya Sood, William Speagle, and Kevin Ehrman-Solberg Abstract This paper studies the effect of racially-restrictive covenants prevalent during the early-to-mid 20th century on present-day socioeconomic outcomes such as house prices and racial segregation. Racial covenants were clauses…