In California, legislation to streamline housing production and to fund the construction of deed-restricted affordable housing often requires builders to pay “prevailing wages” to the construction workers who work on the resulting project. These requirements are based on the idea…
The Roots of YIMBYism: A Journey Through Housing History
When did the YIMBY movement really begin? In The Uneven March of Progress: The Past, Present, and Future of Zoning Reform in the United States, Stephen Menendian draws historic parallels between the modern YIMBY movement, which arose during the aftermath…
A Stronger Builders Remedy: AB 1893
AB 1893 makes the Builder’s Remedy a more effective tool for housing production by providing greater legal clarity and certainty for home builders who use it in localities that are out of compliance with state housing law. The bill moves…
The Accessory Success Story: How San Diego Builds Multi-Family ADUs
In 2016 the California state legislature passed a series of bills that broadly legalized accessory dwelling units (ADUs), sometimes known as “granny flats” or “in-law units.” These “accessory” homes – so-called because they are legally a part of the existing…
We Can’t Build, and it’s Very, Very Bad: On the Politics of Urban Growth
Leaving aside the specific policy barriers to building—strict zoning, onerous permitting processes, environmental review laws that empower litigious neighbors, and so on— most jurisdictions and states across the United States struggle to build housing and infrastructure, and most policymakers fail…
Leveling the Field: Reforming Land Use for “Missing Middle” Homes
In housing construction, new homes are said to “pencil out” – or be financially feasible – when the expected rental income or sales price is high enough to cover construction costs plus a reasonable return on investment. A project that…
How Urban Housing Shortages Fuel Costly Climate Disasters
How do urban housing shortages caused by tight zoning and other land use regulations increase the risk of climate disaster? In Relational Geographies of Urban Unsustainability: The Entanglement of California’s Housing Crisis With WUI Growth and Climate Change, Miriam Greenberg,…
Defective Condo Defect Laws: Ripe for Repair?
Since 2011, 97 percent of California’s new multifamily housing has been built for rent, not for ownership. While the state needs to continue to build hundreds of thousands of rentals – more supply will drive down housing costs, and stabilize…
Movin’ On Up? The Low Ceiling of North American Elevator Standards
Why do we have so many walk-up apartment buildings without elevators in North America, and why are buildings with elevators so expensive compared to the rest of the world? In a new report simply titled “Elevators”, Stephen Smith, from the…
“Informal” Housing – It’s Not Just a Formality
California’s statewide accessory dwelling unit (ADU) reforms are an unambiguous housing policy win, enabling the permitting and construction of tens of thousands of new homes all across the state. However, legal ADU development is not the whole story: even with…