Published: 2018 | Christopher S. Elmendorf | UC Davis Legal Studies Research Paper Series Abstract The problem of local-government barriers to housing supply is finally enjoying its moment in the sun. For decades, the states did little to remedy this…
California’s Housing Future: Challenges and Opportunities
Published: 2017 | Ben Metcalf et al. | California HCD Abstract But while California’s housing challenges may appear to be overwhelming, California’s Housing Future: Challenges and Opportunities provides the data and analysis to describe the problem and frame the discussion…
Zoning and the Cost of Housing: Evidence from Silicon Valley, Greater New Haven, and Greater Austin
Published: 2017 | Robert C. Ellickson Abstract Municipal zoning, shockingly, may be the most consequential regulatory program in the United States. The Article develops metrics for measuring the extent to which a locality’s zoning practices are exclusionary, that is, limit…
Motivations for Growth Revolts: Discretion and Pretext as Sources of Development Conflict
Published: 2017 | Michael Manville | City & Community Abstract This article suggests that “ballot box growth revolts”—instances where citizens use direct democracy to curb development—may be caused by local governments’ use of discretionary development approvals. We further suggest that…
It Takes a Village: Designating “Tiny House” Villages as Transitional Housing Campgrounds
Published: 2017 | Ciara Turner | University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform Abstract A relatively new proposal to reduce homelessness in the United States involves extraordinarily small dwellings. While the “tiny house” movement is intuitively appealing and has found…
Producing Affordable Housing in Rising Markets: What Works?
Published: 2016 | Lance Freeman, Jenny Schuetz | Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia Abstract As cities across the United States have rebounded from the Great Recession, an increasing number of households in urban areas are facing high rent burdens in…
Housing Development Toolkit
Published: 2016 | Obama Administration Abstract Over the past three decades, local barriers to housing development have intensified, particularly in the high-growth metropolitan areas increasingly fueling the national economy. The accumulation of such barriers – including zoning, other land use…
Do Strict Land Use Regulations Make Metropolitan Areas More Segregated by Income?
Published: 2016 | Michael C. Lens and Paavo Monkkonen | American Planning Association Journal Abstract Income segregation has risen in each of the last four decades in U.S. metropolitan areas, which can have lifelong impacts on the health, economic productivity,…
Planning an Affordable City
Published: 2015 | Roderick M. Hills, Jr. David Schleicher | Yale Law & Economics Review Abstract In many of the biggest and richest cities in America, there is a housing affordability crisis. Housing prices in these cities have appreciated well…
The New Exclusionary Zoning
Published: 2014 | John Mangin | Stanford Law and Policy Review Abstract If low-income families can’t afford the suburbs and the cities, where should they go? For the first time in American history, it makes sense to talk about whole…