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Suddenly, Zoning Reforms are Popping up Everywhere
This has been, among other things, a very good week for housing action in the United States. On Tuesday evening, the city council of Sacramento, California, voted 9-0 for a plan that would, if it reaches final approval in a year, re-legalize four homes by right on every residential lot. It would remove parking mandates citywide and allow lots to be subdivided by right. Just as importantly, the concept currently...Read more » -
Why Should Washington Lawmakers Take Action on Granny Flats?
ADUs like granny flats are one of many solutions that can help reverse the state’s housing crisis. Cities like Bellevue need a nudge.Read more » -
What Do Georgia’s Senate Runoffs Mean for Federal Action on Housing?
Update January 6, 2021: Victories for Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff in yesterday’s Georgia Senate runoff election will hand over control of the US Senate to Democrats in the next Congress. It’s a critical step toward realizing President-elect Joe Biden’s exemplary housing proposals. However, Senate Republicans can obstruct federal action on housing with the filibuster. To boost funding for Section 8 vouchers or the Housing Trust Fund, Democrats can bypass...Read more » -
West Coast Cottage Reforms Lead to Explosive Rise in Permits
In recent years, cities and states across North America have turned their attention to reforming exclusionary zoning rules to address housing shortages and create walkable neighborhoods with access to good jobs and public transit. Under exclusionary zoning, most cities reserve a majority of residential land for expensive, single-detached houses that are out of reach for most families. With the removal of these rules, neighborhoods can open up and offer more...Read more » -
Biden-Harris Win Opens Path to Federal Action on Housing
Biden wins! Good news is the Biden-Harris ticket has a great plan for federal action on housing. Bad news is continued obstructionism in a Republican-controlled Senate will stall affordability and housing security for Americans.Read more » -
Ballot Drop Boxes Loom Large in 2020
As states explore new ways to enhance vote-by-mail access during the pandemic, one resource has become an important piece of an Oregon county’s expansion of drop boxes—libraries. Multnomah County, Oregon, took libraries’ civic participation to the next level. It’s common for counties to use libraries as in-person early voting locations or ballot drop-off sites, often placing secure drop boxes in library parking lots. The American Libraries Association lists at least...Read more » -
The Path to Good Local Zoning Reform is State and Federal Zoning Reform
Should pro-housing advocates focus on making bad cities less bad, or on making good cities better? Here in Cascadia, we’ve just seen some interesting evidence that relatively modest state laws actually do both. That’s because state (and federal) laws that force anti-housing cities to welcome a bit more housing can also open up useful new debates in pro-housing cities. The trick is to override the universal bias toward the status...Read more » -
Good News! Vancouver’s Six-Homes-per-Lot Proposal Could Work
Can Vancouver BC’s six-homes-per-lot plan work? Re-legalizing smallplexes takes on expensive housing, segregation, and climate chaos. Ironically, sky-high land values make it possible to cap the price of two homes in a smallplex—if it’s built big enough.Read more » -
Will the Federal Hammer Come Down on Apartment Bans?
With a conversation about zoning to lift apartment bans going mainstream at the national level and households across the country suffering from COVID’s devastation, the stage has never been better set for Congress to act.Read more » -
Portland just passed the best low-density zoning reform in US history
Portland’s city council set a new bar for North American housing reform Wednesday by legalizing up to four homes on almost any residential lot. Portland’s new rules will also offer a “deeper affordability” option: four to six homes on any lot if at least half are available to low-income Portlanders at regulated, affordable prices. The measure will make it viable for nonprofits to intersperse below-market housing anywhere in the city...Read more »