The “hard costs” of building new homes — materials, labor, and builder profit margins — have a weak relationship to home prices across American cities. New research analyzing 75 years of data reveals that the cost of building new housing…
This One Weird Trick Could Could Cut NYC Rent by 18%
New York City could add 71% more residential floorspace by 2060, and reduce rents by 18% over the next 40 years, if it removed certain restrictions on home building. In “Can We Rebuild a City? The Dynamics of Urban Redevelopment,”…
America’s Highway to Hell (And Poverty)– How We All Lose from Road Spending
Cities across America spend billions expanding highways and building parking lots, believing more driving equals more prosperity. However, new research suggests the opposite: regions with the highest car dependency tend to exhibit lower economic productivity, while walkable areas with good…
How California’s Sky-High Rents Cancelled Out $11 Billion in Food Stamp Benefits
California’s 17.7 percent poverty rate—more than double Minnesota’s 7.4 percent—stems almost entirely from housing costs that have spiraled beyond what typical families can afford. In San Jose, a family of four needs $57,673 just to meet basic needs, compared to…
Why is Building Slowing Down in America’s Boomtowns?
Texas has long been America’s poster child for more affordable housing, thanks to its minimal regulations and abundant land. However, this hasn’t prevented Texas cities like Austin from developing the same cost pressures as California’s metro areas, which built far…
America’s Missing 15 Million Homes
American home building has slowed down significantly over the past 25 years. If the U.S. housing stock had grown from 2000 to 2020 at the same rate as it did from 1980 to 2000, there would be 15 million more…
California YIMBY Statement on AB 609: CEQA infill housing exemption
California YIMBY issued the following statement on news that AB 609, creating CEQA exemptions for infill housing, would be signed into law as part of the state budget (through AB 130, a trailer bill): “This is one of the biggest…
Taller Buildings Near Transit Would Cut Austin’s Affordable Housing Costs by $2.5 Billion
Allowing denser apartment buildings along Austin’s planned light-rail lines could slash the city’s affordable housing subsidies from $8 billion to $5.5 billion while meeting housing goals that current zoning makes impossible, according to a University of Texas study. The findings…
System Failure: The Hidden Rot in America’s State and Local Governments
New York’s Second Avenue Subway costs 12 times more per mile than similar projects in Paris and Madrid. That astronomical price tag reflects a deeper problem plaguing governments across America, where housing costs spiral out of control and basic infrastructure…
Location, Location, Low-Carbon: The Surprising Climate Math of Where We Live
While urban planners have long considered the impacts of density, new research reveals additional housing and neighborhood design factors that significantly impact our carbon footprint in residential developments. In “Beyond density: Examining overlooked drivers of housing and neighborhood greenhouse gas…