Over the past three decades, most new homes in California have been built in or near the wildland-urban interface (WUI). As catastrophic fires in the WUI grow worse with climate change, effective fire-risk reduction strategies are essential. In Land Use…
Calling the Bluff: First the Reforms, Then the Funds
Housing costs are a contentious political issue in most American cities. Demands for building more “affordable housing” run up against a variety of politically-powerful stakeholders, who are ambivalent (at best) about neighborhood change; many constituents are fiercely opposed to even…
Enhancing Mobility for Older Adults: Insights from Land Use in the U.S. and Japan
As America’s population ages, the need to provide safe and efficient mobility from far-flung suburbs and subdivisions grows more acute. Our current transportation systems, land use, and development patterns all but mandate private car ownership and driving – which is…
How-To ADU: The Handbook
Over the past eight years, California lawmakers have adopted dozens of reforms designed to make it easier for homeowners to build Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), which are sometimes referred to as “granny flats,” in-law units, or casitas. To help homeowners,…
Construction Costs Up: Time is Money in New Housing
In a report for the RAND Corporation, Jason M Ward looks at construction costs for permanent supportive housing funded by Los Angeles Measure HHH, a 2016 ballot initiative that required the use of Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) for projects with…
The Biggest Move in Climate Action: Legalize Infill Housing
Adding to a growing body of research on the intersections between climate and housing policy, a new report prepared for the Colorado Energy Office looks at the impact of various land use policies on residential growth and greenhouse gas emissions…
Think Vertically, Act Horizontally: Affordable Homeownership in Tennessee
While supply-focused housing policy reforms in coastal states usually focus on expanding the stock of multifamily rental housing, cities in the south have pursued a different strategy: making it easier to build and sell small-lot single family homes for ownership. …
Did Someone Say … Housing Policy is (Still) Climate Policy?
Can infill housing reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help California achieve its climate goals? In US urban land-use reform: a strategy for energy sufficiency, Terner Center associate research director Zack Subin and his coauthors argue that it can: by concentrating…
Election Aftermath: We Still Need More Homes
It’s been two weeks since the historic election of 2024. Some races are still too-close to call, and statisticians will need another few weeks to collect, clean, and analyze election data before we can confidently substantiate some of the hot…
Unrepresentative Sample: How Public Meetings Weaken Fair Housing Outcomes
The practice of inviting the public to comment on proposed projects in long, often-contentious meetings is a hallmark of American urban planning practice in the post urban renewal age. However, recent research out of Boston suggests that the public that…