How much does it cost to build new housing? And are these costs aligned with what the market will bear for rents, or broad goals of housing affordability? In the world of housing contractors and developers, the term for a…
How a Boom in Market-Rate Housing Would Help Section 8 Tenants
The United States largely abandoned building new public (i.e., publicly-owned and operated) housing in the 1970s, replacing it with the Housing Choice Voucher program to provide low-income families with federally-funded rent subsidies for use in privately-owned buildings. Colloquially known as…
How an Oil Spill Backlash Caused High Housing Prices – and More Oil Consumption
Following a catastrophic oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara in 1969, in 1972, California voters passed Proposition 20, the “Save Our Coast” ballot initiative. The initiative rode a wave of voter anger over the horrific damage done by…
Episode 15
In this episode, Nolan Gray and Ned Resnikoff chat with Danielle Allen. Allen is a professor of political philosophy, ethics, and public policy at Harvard University, and director of the Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation. She is also the author of the recent book, Justice By Means of Democracy.
FAR Away from Home
In addition to the use of zoning regulations to control the location, density, and types of housing, many jurisdictions use similar regulatory tools to limit the total floor space a building can have. These limits, which typically take the form…
Exclusionary By Design: The History of Zoning in Boston Suburbs
While popular scholarship has extensively documented the racially exclusionary effects of low density and single family zoning, particularly in its earliest forms, there is less agreement on whether it was adopted for the explicit purpose of segregating by race and…
Housing Crisis 101: Webinar
When: Tuesday, December 12 @ 6:00PM via Zoom Want to shore up your knowledge of the causes, effects and solutions to California’s housing crisis to be more comfortable in your conversations with your friends, family and community? Join us for…
Implementing AB 1633 Webinar with Chris Elmendorf
Join California YIMBY’s Local and Regional Policy Programs Director Aaron Eckhouse and Professor Chris Elmendorf for this webinar explaining how cities can prepare to implement AB 1633’s reforms to environmental review. Especially relevant for city staff & practicing planners looking…
News from Sacramento: State Assembly 2024 Committee Assignments
Hot off the presses! Speaker of the Assembly Robert Rivas just announced new committee assignments for the 2024 legislative session. The following Assemblymembers were appointed Chairs of their respective Committees: These are the first full committee assignments for Speaker Rivas,…
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”…