We know that older people vote more than younger people and that homeowners vote more than renters; but are older homeowners, as a class, overrepresented in local elections? Katherine Levine Einstein, Maxwell Palmer, Ellis Hamilton, and Ethan Singer analyzed the…
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…
The Gap: A Shortage of Affordable Homes
Published: 2020 | Andrew Aurand, Dan Emmanuel, Diane Yentel | National Low Income Housing Coalition Abstract A large-scale, sustained commitment to affordable housing for people with the lowest incomes, through such programs as the national Housing Trust Fund (HTF), Housing…
An Introduction to the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit
Published: 2019 | Mark P. Keightley | Congressional Research Service Abstract The low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) program is one of the federal government’s primary policy tools for encouraging the development and rehabilitation of affordable rental housing.
The rise and effects of homeowners associations
Published: 2019 | Wyatt Clarkea, Matthew Freedman | Urban Economics Abstract In the U.S., nearly 60% of recently built single-family houses, and 80% of houses in new subdivisions, are part of a homeowners association (HOA). We construct the first near-national…
Recalibrating Local Politics to Increase the Supply of Housing
Published: 2019 | Chris Elmendorf | CATO Institute Abstract State planning mandates and development-rights auctions can bolster pro-housing factions in local government.
Zoning and the Cost of Housing: Evidence from Silicon Valley, Greater New Haven, and Greater Austin
Published: 2017 | Robert C. Ellickson Abstract Municipal zoning, shockingly, may be the most consequential regulatory program in the United States. The Article develops metrics for measuring the extent to which a locality’s zoning practices are exclusionary, that is, limit…
Motivations for Growth Revolts: Discretion and Pretext as Sources of Development Conflict
Published: 2017 | Michael Manville | City & Community Abstract This article suggests that “ballot box growth revolts”—instances where citizens use direct democracy to curb development—may be caused by local governments’ use of discretionary development approvals. We further suggest that…
Meet the Housing Law Enforcers
California’s state legislature has made major strides in reducing the barriers to building housing statewide. However, many local governments have failed to comply with state housing law, with some making explicit efforts to sidestep these laws by exploiting loopholes and…