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A New Idea for State-Led Upzoning: Letting Cities Opt Out
As more and more states look for politically feasible ways to legalize housing amid an alarming new spike in home prices, new ideas keep emerging. This year, Washington state introduced one such concept: local fiscal incentives. Three state bills there would have given cities extra chunks of tax money for legalizing greener, less expensive housing options like ADUs, fourplexes and apartments near transit. Though they didn’t pass, they did win...Read more » -
Good Transit Is Pointless When People Can’t Live Near It
If the government pays hundreds of millions of dollars to help build and operate a high-quality transit line, people should generally be allowed to live near it if they want to. You’d think this would be uncontroversial. Especially among people who run public transit agencies. Unfortunately, some transit leaders here in Oregon seem to be distracted by the exciting goal of building high-capacity bus and rail lines, or at least...Read more » -
Zoning Reformer in Chief
It’s happening. Five years after the Obama White House released a memo endorsing local zoning reforms as a way to fight displacement and boost the economy, three years after the Trump White House did essentially the same, and one year after Donald Trump himself took an interest in the issue long enough to flip-flop on it and spend several ill-fated weeks making the case for neighborhood segregation, US President Joseph...Read more » -
YIMBYism Means Legalizing Very Cheap Homes, Too
The recipe for solving a housing crisis has various ingredients. But one essential ingredient is simple: Housing has to be legal. The modern urban pro-housing movement—the YIMBY movement, as it’s sometimes known—spends a lot of effort trying to lift our cities’ widespread bans on mid-cost homes like fourplexes, backyard cottages, and apartments. This movement is increasingly successful, which is great. Legalizing homes of all shapes and sizes in all neighborhoods...Read more » -
Anchorage Needs More Moderately Priced Homes: Let’s Start With ADUs
In Anchorage, there are lots of rules about what you can do with buildings on your private property. Most make sense, like mandating earthquake-resistant structures and preventing properties from becoming junkyards. But the city’s zoning code still contains regulations that can do more harm than good by deterring homebuilding and limiting housing choices. Take regulations that impose limits on building an accessory dwelling unit (ADU), also known as a garden...Read more » -
When Is Seattle Going to Fix Micro-housing?
When is Seattle going to fix microhousing? David Neiman and his daughter look at data over time resulting from city policy changes.Read more » -
Two Paths Emerge for Washington to Legalize More Granny Flats
Washington State lawmakers could clear a path in neighborhoods across the state for more granny flats and basement apartments.Read more » -
Zombie Scooters to Invade Boise
Bosie, Idaho pilot: New autonomous electric vehicle technology aims to reduce sidewalk clutter and increase e-scooter use for short trips.Read more » -
UPDATED: State Incentives for Local Abundant Housing Policy
Washington state legislators eye three new state-wide strategies to incentivize cities to adopt local abundant housing rules and tackle the state’s affordability crisis by addressing the home shortage.Read more » -
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 »