In pursuit of more affordable housing for young families and first-time homebuyers, cities across the US are legalizing “missing middle” housing. But the reforms passed in many cities often fail to produce new homes. A deep dive into a Memphis,…
The Affordability Agenda: Why Mobility Matters
Lower-income Americans spend over 30% of their after-tax income on transportation, a burden driven by states prioritizing highways over transit. New research argues the high cost of transport reflects a policy failure, but one that can be reversed and lead…
California YIMBY Statement on Future Proposed Draft Recommendations for the State Fire Marshal Single-Stair Study
October 2025 On behalf of California YIMBY, I respectfully submit the following comments on future proposed draft recommendations for the State Fire Marshal’s Single-Stair Study. California YIMBY is a statewide housing policy and advocacy organization that focuses on making our…
New Apartments Are Safer Than Detached Houses—And It’s Not Even Close
In 2023, four people died in apartment fires in buildings constructed since 2010, out of 8.3 million Americans in those buildings. That’s 0.5 deaths per million. Compare that to single-family homes: 7.6 per million, fifteen times higher. In “Modern Multifamily…
Building Up Beats Sprawling Out: Why Construction Wages Grew 2x Faster in Dense Cities
When Minneapolis converted an abandoned Ford auto plant into a dense neighborhood, it created thousands of union construction jobs while making housing more affordable. A 22-year analysis reveals that smart growth policies like these consistently produce more construction work, higher…
How America’s Regional Planning Boards Exclude Renters and Transit Users
America’s regional planning boards are stacked against transit riders. While renters make up over 30% of households in typical metropolitan areas, they hold just 3% of seats on regional planning agencies that control billions of dollars in federal transportation funding.…
The Legal Trap That’s Making California Condos Unaffordable—And It’s Not What You Think
California’s construction defect liability system (the legal rules that let people sue builders for problems with new buildings) is adding up to $18,300 per unit to the costs of condominiums. What was supposed to protect consumers has become a barrier…
What Would SB 79 Mean for Los Angeles?
How is Los Angeles doing on housing affordability? Not good. The median home price in Los Angeles is now $930,622. That’s over 11 times the median household income – meaning the typical Los Angeles family does not have a path…
How America’s Wealthiest Neighborhoods Use Zoning Laws to Lock Out Renters
Across American suburbs, local governments use zoning laws to require large lot sizes, limit apartment construction, and mandate excessive parking spaces—regulations that effectively price out renters and concentrate them in just a fraction of neighborhoods. These rules operate like an…
Why Lot Size Requirements Make Neighborhoods More Expensive
America’s housing affordability crisis stems from an unexpected source: minimum lot size requirements. These are local laws that dictate how much land every new home must sit on. When a city says “every new house needs at least half an…