California regularly makes national headlines for the outrageous things said at public hearings about housing and related issues. But do these hearings matter? Do the people and interest groups speaking at these hearings reflect the broader public? And are their…
Leveling the Field: Recommended Changes to Public Participation Processes
Public hearings and related meetings are the core of the American land use planning process, but are they working to achieve the desired outcome of broad-based affordability, equity, and sustainability? A 2021 paper in the Fordham Law Review by Professor…
Single-Unit Zoning: Locking Out Diverse Communities in Sacramento
The Othering & Belonging Institute (OBI) at UC Berkeley has a new report out on zoning in the Sacramento region, and their findings are a stark reminder of the racist and classist impacts of exclusionary, single-unit-only zoning. Key takeaways: Stephen…
How Upzoning Increased Home Building in New Zealand
Recent land use reforms have made New Zealand the belle of the housing policy ball, but the island nation’s largest city of Auckland actually got a head start with a broad upzoning in 2016. In a new study by Greenaway-McGrevy…
Much Ado about ADU Financing
In a new joint paper from the UC Berkeley Terner Center for Housing Innovation and USC Lusk Center for Real Estate, Green et al (2022) assess the challenges and opportunities of financing for Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), also known as…
How Shared Appreciation Loans Can Help Fix the California Dream
In a new report from California State Treasurer Fiona Ma’s office prepared by California Forward, California Community Builders, HR&A Advisors, and CSG Advisors, researchers show how the state government can invest in racial justice and housing security by supporting a…
How Remote Work Drove Pandemic Housing Demand – and Prices
A new working paper by Mondragon & Wieland (2022) at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) suggests that the shift to remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic accounted for at least half of the price increases in housing nationwide.…
Report: Housing Justice is Essential for Reparations
California’s Reparations Task Force was established in 2021 to provide a policy framework for providing reparations for slavery to African-Americans. Their Interim Report, released in June 2022, covers significant aspects of housing opportunity and segregation, with proposals to begin redressing…
Barriers to Prosperity: How Housing Bans Harm California’s Middle-Income Households
Middle-income households in California face a critical dearth of housing options, increasingly squeezed by the rising costs of housing on the private market and limited resources from the public sector. A new study by Garcia et al. (2022) at the…
The State of Hispanic Homeownership
The National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP) recently released the 2021 edition of their annual report, “The State of Hispanic Homeownership.” This report highlights important disparities in access to wealth creation opportunities through homeownership for Hispanic Americans. Key…