“Housing First” Policies Need Better Coordination, Funding, Enforcement “Homelessness is primarily the result of high housing costs” SACRAMENTO – Today, California YIMBY released a new report that outlines steps the State of California should take to end homelessness by reducing…
The Model Says: “All of the above”
The UC Berkeley Terner Center for Housing Innovation has released a new Housing Policy Dashboard that enables researchers and policymakers to simulate various policy scenarios for increasing California’s housing supply. Accompanied with a paper by Casey et al (2022) that…
To Remedy, or Not to Remedy – That Is the Question
A new paper by UC Davis School of Law student Jordan Wright unravels the myriad complexities of California’s “Builder’s Remedy,” a rarely-used legal practice that may (or may not) greatly accelerate new homebuilding across the state. The Builder’s Remedy is…
More Homes = More Integrated Communities … and Vice-Versa
A new working paper from the Mercatus Center at George Mason University shows strong evidence of the relationship between exclusionary zoning and racial segregation in the Minneapolis–St. Paul region. Key takeaways: Neighborhoods that were zoned exclusively for single-unit homes in…
An Rx for the Housing Shortage?
A new primer on California’s “builder’s remedy” by UC Davis law professor Chris Elmendorf explains the inner workings of a once-obscure state law that’s now making national headlines for potentially accelerating new housing in cities across the state: The “Builder’s…
SB Nein? How Cities Cheat on Housing Reform
A new analysis by David Garcia and Muhammad Alameldin (California YIMBY alumni) at the UC Berkeley Terner Center for Housing Innovation unpacks the challenges arising from local implementation of Senate Bill 9, California’s landmark housing bill that ended single-unit-only zoning…
“Not in Your Back Yard:” How Tort Law Gave Birth to NIMBYism
In a 2021 Harvard Law Review paper, Maureen Brady explores the early history of exclusionary zoning and prohibitions on multifamily housing as they evolved from 19th century private tort law and “nuisance covenants” that were inserted into property deeds in…
It’s the Asphalt, Stupid: How Freeways Wrecked Local Economies
US Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg recently announced a major federal grant for tearing down the one-mile I-375 freeway in Detroit, a monument to racial injustice that cut a deep scar through Black neighborhoods – and displaced 100,000 residents in…
Detroit’s War Against Our Kids
The United States is in the midst of a traffic violence epidemic, with motor vehicle collisions among the leading causes of death for children, and annual traffic deaths reaching 16-year highs. The increasing share of SUVs on the road is…
Stacking the Deck: How Public Comment Entrenches Bad Housing Policy
California regularly makes national headlines for the outrageous things said at public hearings about housing and related issues. But do these hearings matter? Do the people and interest groups speaking at these hearings reflect the broader public? And are their…