Robert Cruickshank

In a new report, researchers at AARP explain why state-level action is needed to legalize “missing middle” housing – housing affordable to the vast majority of middle-income households – drawing lessons from past attempts. The bulk of the report is…

Rents and home prices have skyrocketed across the U.S., spreading housing affordability challenges that once seemed to be contained to the coasts. But in places that allow housing growth, multifamily construction also continues to boom, such that prices could soon…

Over the past century, the bulk of California’s housing has been built on the suburban periphery. In recent years, much of this growth has taken place in parts of the state prone to regular fires and floods, putting many California…

Thanks to recent YIMBY-backed reforms, California is in the midst of an accessory dwelling unit (ADU – a.k.a. “Granny flats” or “casitas”) building boom. Since 2016, new state rules have clarified and strengthened the rights of property owners to build…

Over the past few decades, California has made historic investments in urban mass transit, as demand for transit-served neighborhoods has grown. Yet these investments are undermined by poor local planning around transit stations, with zoning codes often blocking the mixed-use,…

California is in the throes of a worsening homelessness crisis. While street homelessness – people living in tents, cardboard boxes, and other makeshift structures – receives the bulk of the attention, half of all unhoused people live out of cars,…